


Never Truly Alone

by AbnormalSomething



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abandonment, First few chapters are designed to kick your heart, Friendship, I'm Sorry, Language, Lots of plot, Made up for in later chapters, Multi, Roomates, Slow Build, Some angst, Substance Abuse, but I plan to make it kinda fun too, long chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-11
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-03-17 09:46:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 116,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3524633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbnormalSomething/pseuds/AbnormalSomething
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi never had much of a family the only person he considers family is his sister, Mikasa, but with them about to get kicked out of their apartment he's not so confident in his ability to provide for her anymore, though he doesn't want to lose her. He'd give anything to take care of his sister, he'd give everything if that's what it took.</p><p>Hange on the other hand, had a family; two little brothers named Armin and Eren and two loving parents... Well she had that anyway, but they've just lost their parents to a tragic accident, now she's left a penniless ex-student, trying to find a way to get money to take care of her brothers with their lives suddenly thrust into her care, but with so few options for her, shes getting desperate and nervous fast.</p><p>With both of them in such grim situations, they meet and unwillingly end up helping each other out... By moving in together and their renting agreement ends up coming with way more than either of them bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How it begins

  
-  
  
    Though Eren started out on this trip happy to not be in day care, he was crying now; he didn't want to stand on the bus. People around her were giving Hange dirty looks, asking her to keep her child quiet… Her child… Huh…Guess that's what he was now: Her child.  
  
    "I can't hold you now Eren, I'm sorry, I have to hold Armin since he's not as big and strong as you." Hange smiled patiently down at the child from behind her glasses and her words silenced him.  
  
    "Big and s-strong?" He asked, large green eyes shining up at her, still moist from crying, but clearly filled with pride at the compliment. Hange smirked, she knew exactly how to calm her little brother down, being big and strong was always his wish, he had a habit of standing in front of the television and screaming at all of the bad guys on tv that he would get big and strong and come to beat them up, it was cute and using that compliment was a great way to calm him down.  
  
    "Of course you are!" Hange smiled brightly, wishing she could pat him on the head, but with Armin in one hand and her other hand holding onto a pole to keep her upright, she couldn't quite do it, she could only smile instead. She'd been doing that a lot lately… Smiling even though she was tired.  
  
    "Big Sis?" Eren called all calmed down and happy to be praised for his strength, "Are we almost there, you said we are going to see mommy again right?" Eren asked innocently. Hange bit her lip a moment, her eyes stinging a bit now… Was that what she'd told him before? That they were going to see mommy and daddy? They were, but she knew it wasn't at all what Eren was thinking it was. Eren had been asking Hange all week where mommy and daddy were and Hange had been assuring him they'd see them soon before going into her own room to cry.  
  
    How could she tell a four year old that their parents were dead?  
  
    "Ah, this is our stop!" Hange fumbled reaching out for the cord that signaled for the bus driver to stop, she nearly toppled over as she did, Armin's leg hit a short tattooed guy next to her in the head and she got a dirty look that she hardly noticed as the bus came to a stop and she and her brothers got off.  
  
    Eren spotted a puddle almost as soon as they got off of the bus and as if entranced by it, immediately went for it, "Eren no!" She called out, Eren turned around snapped out of his daze by his sister's voice, "You're wearing your nice clothes Eren, you should't ruin them." She chided and Eren looked down at his little suit and shiny shoes.  
  
    "Why are we so dressed up to see Mommy and Daddy?" Eren's little face scrunched up as he asked the question, looking awfully confused.  
  
    "Well… Let's go inside first… There's something I have to tell yo about Mommy and Daddy-" reaching out for his hand, Hange led the boys inside for the memorial service slowly… This wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

  
  
    The crying went on for hours. Eren held the picture frames of his mother and father close to him as tears leaked down his face, two year old Armin who'd been asleep for much of the trip here had awoken once he heard Eren crying and immediately started cry in once he saw his brother upset.  
  
    Hange didn't cry. Hange pulled out tissues from her bag and dabbed them on Eren and Armin's faces, she held them close as they clung to her crying wordlessly, she pat their backs until they'd tired themselves out from crying before slinging her bag over her shoulder and gathering Eren and Armin in her arms ignoring how heavy they were. Thankfully she was given a seat on the bus, and the cool early spring night air wasn't too cold as she carried the sleeping boys home, she placed them in their respective beds once they arrived and went back to her own room. Hange left the door cracked open in case Eren woke up and wanted to find her and slipped her bag from her shoulders, placing the diapers she'd brought along with her for Armin aside and pulling out her textbooks so that she could pass her exam tomorrow.  
  
    Hange stared at the page in her textbooks that held all sorts of wonderful information that she was eager to learn, but by the time she got to the bottom of the page, she realized she couldn't remember anything she'd just read and she laughed bitterly to herself. She wanted to finish school and get a good job as a marine biologist in order to take care of her mother and father and make sure that they could retire early, but why was she studying now? Her parents had died in an accident that they caused and both were barely hanging on all week, they had no life insurance to speak of, no money that hadn't gone to her education or to their medical bills to pay off the time they's been in the hospital… And now Hange who just a week ago had been a carefree hardworking, 21 year old student, was left alone had two mouths to feed and no other family to help them.  
  
    Hange took a ragged breath and with shaky hands, pulled out her laptop, went to a search engine and looking up jobs that would hire her right now… Even if it meant she had to take time from school, or she'd never sleep again, or even that she'd have to let her GPA slip… Hange was going to put food on the table for her two little brothers if it killed her.

* * *

  
**-Levi-**

  
  
    Levi got off of his bus with a splitting headache. It was bad enough that he was dead tired, but then some lady on the bus standing next to him had a screaming kid, and if that wasn't bad enough, the foot of the other kid she was holding knocked against his head while she tried to get off. The headache was irritating, but he couldn't be flat out mad at her, she looked young and she already had two kids? Least she was doing her best… Nothing like his own mother.  
  
    Levi sighed tiredly, taking in the cool air and started walking towards the daycare to get his little sister; Mikasa.  
  
-  
  
    "Levi." Mikasa smiled very faintly as she walked up to her big brother and grabbed hold of the bottom of his leather jacket the moment he entered the daycare.  
  
    "Hey there." He smirked tiredly, utterly exhausted from working straight through the night before coming to get her (the very reason he didn't trust himself to drive to come get her), but he still bent down and picked her up.  
  
    Mikasa wrapped her little arms around her big brother's neck, burying her face into the scarf she was wearing… Now that he thought about it, she'd been wearing that all winter, it stunk… And he didn't remember buying it, he was sure as hell that their mother hadn't bought it.  
  
    "Hey, kid, where'd you get that scarf?" Levi asked reaching out to touch the red fabric she had around her neck as he carried her out of the day care, but she quickly slapped his hands away.  
  
    "No touch." She said flatly and his brows jumped as he looked down at her little hands that looked prepared to smack his hands away again.  
  
    "Oi, what's so special about that? It stinks." Levi asked as he carried his sister to the bus stop, sitting her down next to him in the little booth while they waited.  
  
    "Eren gave this to me, so you can't touch it." She spoke firmly, her hands holding tight to the scarf around her and a twinkle of affection in her eyes and Levi scoffed.  
  
    "Hey, you just smacked me, is that Eren kid more important than me?"  
  
    "Yes." Mikasa nodded firmly and all Levi could do was scoff seeing that this little brat who he was working his ass off to feed and clothe had already put some other little brat ahead of him in lines of importance… Still he was glad to at least see she was making friends, something she'd never been too good at before. She'd gone to the day care for most of her life while Levi was working, and it wasn't until last year that she met some snot nosed brat named Eren and had ben going on about him ever since.  
  
    "Tch, fine, but I'm still washing it, smells like…" Levi paused, not wanting to say 'shit', "Poop." he amended at the last moment. Mikasa, as stoic as she was, laughed at the word as any four year old would and Levi smiled to himself at the rare sound.  
  
    As they waited for the bus, Mikasa went into detail for the millionth time on how great Eren was and how his hair looked like chocolate, and his eyes looked like her favorite green crayon and Levi listened patiently as his sister spoke, glad to see her excited about something… Even if it was some shitty kid. Mikasa was still going on about Eren when her eyes fell on an older kid walking by with her mother, they were laughing and eating ice-cream together. Levi looked over to Mikasa, seeing the envy in her eyes as she watched the other kid, he could only sigh. He couldn't give her a mother's love… and if he was going to have enough money to send her on a class trip that was coming up in a few weeks with the rest of the students, he couldn't even afford to buy her an ice cream cone.  
  
    "It's too cold for ice cream… You'll get sick if you eat it now" Levi sighed, patting her head, "I'll buy you some when the weather gets warmer, we can eat it at the park if you want."  
  
    "Can we bring Eren too?" She asked excitedly and Levi rolled his eyes, was Eren the sun? Could she not live without Eren?  
  
    "If Eren's family says he can, then why not?" Levi sighed, the prospect of having to drag around somebody else's brat already tiring him out. A smile crossed the little girls face as she leaned her head against her big brother. He didn't really want to bring that 'Eren' kid along, but if it made her smile, he could at least give Mikasa that much happiness. She never asked for much.  
  
    "Good, Eren's been sad," Mikasa pouted as she remembered Eren crying earlier in the week, "He said his mama and papa haven't come home all week, and he didn't even come to school today…" Mikasa mumbled worriedly.  
  
    Levi looked down at his sister, amazed not only by the empathy of this kid for another kid despite her own situation, but for how well spoken she was when she decided to speak. Maybe those educational CDs he'd bought for were paying off, cuz she certainly didn't learn it from him, and definitely not their mother, she was usually too messed up to even form sentence.  
  
    "The bus!" Mikasa enthused, getting to her feet and pulling Levi's hand, happy that she might be able to eat ice cream with Eren.  
  
    "Ay, slow down, you'll pull me over." he dug in his pockets, pulled out some bus money, forked it over to the bus driver and sat next to Mikasa. The bus lurched forward, Mikasa looked out of the window silently, Levi tried his best to stay awake, neither of them looked forward to going home.

* * *

  
  
    They got off at the last stop, the very last stop in the part of town where people walked fast just to get to their homes and had multiple locks on the doors, but hey, it was home. Mikasa held her head high as she held tight to Levi's hands. Levi was proud of the kid for remembering what he'd taught her; Never let them see you sweat.  
  
    It wasn't a long walk from the bus stop to the shitty apartment complex they lived in. Levi fished around in his pockets for his keys… Nothing… he must have left them at work again… Dammit, this is what happened when he didn't get enough sleep.  
  
    He knocked on the door. No reply, he knew his mom was home, she never left her spot in front of the television unless she was out to get another fix.  
      
    "Rose! Open the door!" Levi called tiredly, banging his fist against the door. There was shuffling on the other end. Levi sighed, at least she was conscious today, he hated when he brought Mikasa home and she was passed out on the floor, he knew it scared his sister even if she wouldn't admit it.  
  
    Levi and Mikasa heard the locks undoing and he sighed as he made a list of things to do in his head; take a shower, wash Mikasa's newly acquired scarf and go to sleep. That plan was pretty much wrecked the moment the door flew open and a big ass man came flying out at him with a knife in his hand.  
  
    "Who the hell are you to Rose to come over in the middle of the day, calling her like that, Huh?" The man was demanding, eyes as wild as the wide arcs he was making with the knife swinging at both Levi and Mikasa. Levi dodged, his eyes on Mikasa watching as she quickly scurried out of harms way.  
  
    "I'm her offspring you piece of shit!" Levi boomed, grabbing the man's wrist and twisting it back until the man howled in pain and seemed more cooperative than before. With a thud, Levi knocked the man to the ground and took his knife, "Get the hell out of here before they threaten to kick us out for noise or some shit!" Levi spun the knife around his finger, making sure the man knew that if Levi felt like it, he could do way worse than twist back a wrist. The man scurried off down the hall like the cockroach he was and Levi put the knife in his back pocket; finders keepers.  
  
    Mikasa scurried to Levi's side, staying a few steps behind as he entered their apartment, making sure that there were no more surprises.  
  
    "Go on to the room, Kasa." Levi ushered her in and the little girl ran straight to the back of the apartment, not looking at her mother once and she shut the door behind her, not wanting to hear Levi and Rose argue again.  
      
    "Dammit Levi." Rose mumbled under her breath, "He was offering to pay rent this month." she whined, "Another thing you fucked up, huh? That's why we don't have anything nice around here, that's why we can't even move to a nicer place, you're always messing things up." Rose snorted, taking a sip of booze.  
  
    "I pay rent." Levi grumbled, "We both know what you were going to do with his money and it wasn't save for a damn new apartment!" Levi growled looking into his mother's dead eyes. She smiled at him, yellowed teeth peeking out from behind cracked lips.  
  
    "So what? It's the only joy I have in life now. You two little shits sure as hell didn't give me the happiness all those books said kids bring, ya'know?" She snorted a laugh, "I'm going out." She took another swig before getting to her feet, grabbing her jacket, and a large backpack that she sometimes took with her when she would go out and Leave Mikasa and Levi at the apartment for days, sometimes weeks even.  
  
    "Take your time." Levi grumbled, watching her leave, wishing she'd come back different, but knowing that her coming back different would most likely mean she was worse.  
  
    "Just take care of that extra mouth to feed, she still doesn't even bother taking care of herself." Rose sniffed, her flat pitch black eyes landing o him in an unamused manner.  
  
    Levi's jaw clenched, whatever Rose said about him was fine, but she was not going to talk about Mikasa that way. Hell, Levi might have resented his dead beat mom for hardly acknowledging his existence and making him be responsible for her so young, and resented her even more when she announced that she was having another kid, but… Mikasa grew on him, he was 18 when she was born and she ended up changing him for the better. Levi fed her and bathed her, rocked her to sleep, woke up to keep her from crying, while Rose napped on the couch and yelled for 'the kid to stop being noisy', Mikasa was the main reason that Levi grew the hell up, he'd stopped smoking, drinking, hanging around with no good people and generally messing up his life and started working odd jobs to take care of her… Some of those odd jobs  he took on back then were less than savory and might have not helped in his effort turn his life around, but it fed her. Now he worked a few decent stand up jobs, bought her nice things when he could, could feed her without too much trouble and just hoped what he did for her was enough to make up for Rose being their mother...  
  
    The door slammed shut as Rose stormed out of the apartment, a red sheet of paper that had been jammed in the door fell loose and floated to the floor. With restrained rage, Levi crossed the room and picked it up… An eviction notice, they were to be out in five days.  
  
    "…Shit." Levi mumbled to himself, clenching the paper in his fist… Rose carrying her backpack played back in his mind… There was no way she didn't know about the eviction… "Shit!" the sheet of paper fell to the ground as Levi stormed back to his mothers room to find the whole thing bare save for a piece of paper on the floor… The man from before must have helped her clean out while he and Mikasa were away. Snatching up the paper from the floor, Levi ran for the hallway window that looked out over the apartment's parking lot, reaching the window just in time to see his mother get into the car of the man whose ass he'd just handed to him, and drive off.  
  
    "ROOOOSE!!!" Levi growled from the window as he watched the weathered light blue van pull off, but it didn't stop the van, and his mother didn't look back once.  
  
    "Shit… SHIT!" His fist slammed into the wall, and he looked down at the note that Rose had left behind.  
  
     _"I know, I'm a crappy parent, you're twice the mom I'll ever be you little shit faced brat. I'm just another mouth for you to feed around here. Least now you won't have to work as many jobs. Didn't mean to leave you with the eviction notice, but shit happens. Take care if Mikasa -Rose"_  
  
    The sound of Levi's fist pounding into the apartment hallway echoed down the hall as he dropped the note. The nicest thing his mother ever fucking said to him was this goodbye.  
  
    A little hand wrapped around his as his four year old sister looked up at him. Levi looked down to see Mikasa standing next to him, the red eviction notice that he's dropped earlier in her hand as she looked up at him with honest eyes.  
  
    "We don't have to get ice-cream." he voice came quietly, bouncing off of the walls of the dingy apartment hallway and it broke Levi.


	2. So we Meet Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How far would Levi go when it concerned his sister's well being? Well... Maybe a little too far if it means he'd be willing to fight with a four eyed stranger over a little misunderstanding.
> 
> (I got overexcited and wrote another chapter...)

  
**-Hange-**  
  
    The alarm went off and Hange bolted up from her desk where she'd fallen asleep so fast, it made her head spin, she wiped the drool from her textbook cover as she pulled herself together. The sunlight coming in through the window was a strong indicator of what she dreaded; morning.  
  
    "Crap!" She huffed hurriedly scrambling from her desk and getting to her feet, trying her best to ignore how sluggish her body felt from the lack of food and sleep that she'd accumulated over the week. She had to take Armin and Eren to daycare and get ready for a job interview that she applied for the night before, but judging by the time, she wouldn't have enough time to get the kids ready, drop the kids off and get showered and dressed for her interview… Doing the best she could, she hurriedly redid her ponytail and smoothed out the dress she'd worn to her parents memorial the night before… She took a quick look at her tired face in the mirror and plucked the crust out of her eyes before slapping her cheeks hard and convincing herself that she'd do well on her interview.  
  
    Hange stumbled out of the room tiredly and down the hall to Eren and Armin's shared room to find them both asleep, probably exhausted from having cried so much the day before.  
  
    "Time to get up Eren." Hange called, stroking back his hair. The little boy groaned, rubbing his eyes.  
  
    "Mommy?" Eren called tiredly. He opened his eyes and looked up at Hange's gently smiling face and remembered… Mommy and Daddy were gone. The tears started fresh, and Hange wiped his face yet again and held him until he started to pull himself together ignoring how it pulled at her own heart to remember that their parents were really gone.  
  
    "I'm sorry Eren, I can't be mom and dad, but we have each other right?" another smile was sent Eren's way and Eren's tears stopped, "I know it's not the same as Mom and Dad, but I'll try my best too." thin fingertips brushed Eren's cheeks and he sniffled, "I'll even make your favorite food for breakfast; waffles! I'll make them robot shaped too!" Eren calmed down at the words and hugged his sister a little tighter for a moment, quietly happy that she wasn't gone too, before letting her go.  
  
    "O-okay." He sniffled with a trying smile. Eren got to his feet and went to his dresser and started to get dressed the way he'd been proud of doing lately. It pained Hange that there wasn't more she could do for him while he was suffering. With a sigh, Hange picked up Armin, brushed his hair, changed his pull ups and got him ready for the day before going to the kitchen to make breakfast.  
  
    The kitchen was left in an utter disarray as Hange took a few attempts to make the waffles not burnt, but eventually he got it right and placed a plate of them with some syrup down in front of Eren and a smaller stack of waffles in front of Armin. She watched nervously as she hoped she made them right since now she wasn't sure if she'd put cinnamon or paprika in them, but once they both started eating them happily she let out a sigh of relief that she hadn't messed them up. Taking a look around the batter covered counter and messy dishes, Hange yet again confirmed to herself that she wasn't really good at this whole 'cooking' thing… But she'd keep trying, it wasn't like she could just eat take out or mooch off of her friends like she used to do in the dorms, not with two little people who needed a balanced diet…  
  
    "You'll eat too?" Eren asked suddenly, causing Hange to jump out of her own thoughts.  
  
    Hange checked her watch, "I'll eat later." She assured the little boy as she carefully watched Armin chew happily on his waffles, making a mess of the syrup. She was glad they were enjoying the food at least. The time it took to make the waffles meant that she couldn't eat breakfast herself, but she decided it was fine so long as they were happy.  
  
    They polished off their waffles in minutes flat and Hange helped them clean their sticky hands and faces before helping them gather their things and tie their shoes. Then the three of them, holding their heads as high as a twenty one year old, a child and a toddler who'd all just lost their parents, could.  
-  
      
    The bus ride to the day care had been quiet. Eren, now fully awake, was trying to show off how strong he was to Hange once he saw how tired she looked on the bus, and Armin was quietly oblivious to the madness around him. She carried Armin to the daycare while Eren held her free hand tightly, watching his sister's face as they walked… He wasn't sure why, but she looked different, she was smiling a lot as usual, but it was different than before… Somehow her smile looked different, but he wasn't sure how it looked different...  
  
    The daycare was fairly close to the bus stop, so it wasn't long before Eren and Armin watched Hange sign them in. Hange wished she didn't have to leave them here after what they'd just found out about their parents the day before… But she didn't have a choice today.  
  
    "Have a good day." Hange waved one last time as she moved to leave the daycare, trying not to feel too guilty when Armin reached out to her with tear filled eyes, but Eren hugged his little brother and gave Hange a smile as he waved Armin's hand at her.  
  
    "You too!" Eren was calling after her as she left and she smiled back waving harder knowing that this was just her brother's way of being strong… She would have to make his strength worth it. Hange started mentally going over what she might need to say on her job interview, it was just at a family restaurant up the street from where they were living, but she figured at least if she got a job there she could bring home leftovers for the house. She just had to come off as friendly, that wasn't too hard for her right? Hange's always been a friendly person, always upbeat, smiling and trying her best… Though today, she wasn't feeling to do any of that. She'd just have to fake it. There was little to no food at the house, Armin's pull ups were running low, and she didn't have the money to fix either of those problems right now, not with; no other family to turn to, nothing to inherit from her family but the house and no money after she'd spent her money on some research supplies for her classes two weeks ago.  
  
    Hange sighed heavily, fixing her glasses on her face. She was missing the class that she spent her money on said research supplies for, in order to go to this job interview… If she didn't finish classes and graduate in time, she would never be able to get a job as a Scientiat, but research and science were the only things that she was really good at, if she didn't finish school how would she support her family? But if she used what time and money she had to work for food, the same questions came up… How would she support her family in the long run? She let out anxious sigh as all of the questions ran through her mind.  
  
    "Watch it." A voice growled as Hange nearly ran into a familiar looking man that might have passed as a teenager, with an undercut, tattoos that scrawled down his arms and hands and a mean grey eyed glare… He was holding the hand of a little girl with raven hair that matched his own. The guy had pulled the little girl out of the way with a scowl that spoke of death, and it became pretty clear that Hange had nearly run into the kid.  
  
    "Ah, sorry, I need to pay more attention." Hange tried to laugh it off as she apologized to the little girl and her guardian in a daze.  
  
    "It's okay!" The little girl smiled gently up at Hange, while her guardian went on scowling. She could understand his concern, she'd be the same if some weirdo nearly walked into Eren or Armin.  
  
    "I was in a rush and I should have paid more attention to where I was going." Hange apologized again, dipping her head as she started walking again, "Sorry!" She called hurriedly over her shoulder as she checked the time…  
  
    "Crap!" She muttered to herself, "I took too long saying my goodbyes to Eren and Armin and now I'm going to miss the job interview!" She fussed, nervously biting at her lip as she approached a cross walk. The light was red for her, but she didn't really have time to wait for it to change to green! Hange started to step into the street, a car horn blared and a car zoomed past her nearly missing her and she jumped back in shock. Okay, so maybe she'd wait for the green light.  
  
    

* * *

  
**-Levi-**  
  
    Levi scowled as the messy haired, wrinkly clothes wearing woman scuttles away from Mikasa and him in a hurry. He vaguely recalled seeing her somewhere yesterday, he recognized her because she was wearing the same clothes, but he couldn't remember where he'd seen her.  
  
    "Dirty woman." Levi muttered under his breath as he started to lead Mikasa to the daycare before he got ready to go to work, but Mikasa wasn't moving.  
  
    "Don't call her that!" Mikasa ordered with a stern scowl for her brother, "She's Eren's sister, so you can't be mean to her!" Mikasa stomped her foot and planted her feet on the sidewalk. On goers watched Levi suspiciously, he knew why too. A leather jacket clad, heavily tattooed, mean faced man that looked like a teenager with a 90's haircut, fighting with a wide eyed little girl. Yeah he understood, but he was used to the looks, he more or less ignored them so long as no body came to bother them.  
  
    "Is anyone related to Eren so important to you, punk?" Levi demanded, brows knit together as he stared at her.  
  
    "Of course! They all have to like me, or else how will we all be family one day?" Mikasa smiled to herself, holding the scarf that she'd allowed Levi to wash (under her supervision of course) to her nose.  
  
    Levi stared down at his kid sister, unsure what to say. He could tell he was going to have to give this kid the talk about the birds and the bees early in life, he wasn't too thrilled about that idea. Levi's mouth opened as he was about to ask why the heck Eren was so important to her when he heard the sound of a car horn and a sharp yelp.  
  
    He spun around in time to see Eren's sister nearly become roadkill as she tried to cross the street, before she took step back looking flustered. She looked around like a confused dog that had never crossed the street before and he rolled his eyes.  
  
    "Tch… What an idiot, can't even see a car coming. What's the point of having glasses if they're so shitty you can't see?" he muttered to himself, but upon feeling Mikasa give his hand the death grip, he let the topic go as he walked her into the daycare and got ready to go to his job.  
  
**-Two hours later-**  
  
    "Hey, Oluo, your girlfriend still renting out a room at her place?" Levi asked as he restocked the cigarettes in the case behind the counter of the convenience store; his day job.  
  
    Oluo's eyes went wide in horror as he hurriedly brushed his curly hair out of his face dramatically, "W-why would I tell my girlfriend to let you stay with her? You know how _long_ it took for me to get Petra's attention? She was hung up on you for years! You think I'll just deliver you to her on a silver platter?" His held up his arm like a waiter before dropping the imaginary tray, "No way, not even for you."  
  
    Levi rolled his eyes, "I'm getting evicted, Rose left too, I have to have somewhere for Mikasa to go." Levi reasoned, Oluo looked torn for a moment as he mumbled to himself his eyes shifting around nervously as he thought for a solution.  
  
    "Stay with your own girlfriend!" He countered childishly crossing his arms.  
  
    "Don't have one."  
  
    "And that's your problem! If you weren't so antisocial you'd have one and we wouldn't be in this dilemma!" Oluo crossed his arms over his chest and pouted… A look that did not suit him at all, but Levi's glare made him backpedal "I-I mean it's not like you're a bad guy right? You could get a girlfriend… Just not Petra."  
  
    Levi scoffed turning from Oluo and back to stocking the shelves, "I'm about to live on the streets with a four year old and you want to talk about relationships…" Levi scoffed, "I never liked Petra that way. You know that."  
  
    He saw guilt in Oluo's eyes, "Fine… Since you always help me out when it counts… I guess I can talk to Petra, but don't even look at her okay! Don't be in the same room with her at the same time!" Levi's nodded at the offer, he was going to agree to the terms, but just then his phone rang. He looked at the number.  
  
    "Mikasa's preschool, cover me." Levi spoke quickly, ducking down behind the counter. Oluo nodded.  
  
    "What do you mean a fight?" Levi was quietly growling into his phone nearly the second after he'd picked it up.  
  
    "Mikasa got in trouble?" Oluo mumbled down at Levi, but Levi was still listening hard on the phone and missed some of whatever the teacher on the other side was saying thanks to Oluo cutting in and he wound up only hearing 'Eren' and 'kicked in the face'. Levi was seeing red, was she fighting with that same damn brat she'd been going on about forever? Did he hit her?  
  
    "I have to go." Levi growled, whipping off his work apron, throwing it to Oluo and moving for the door.  
  
    "H-hey! Why are you leaving like you're out for blood? Your sister's in daycare some kid must'a stole her crayons or something at most!" Oluo called after him, catching Levi's apron and frantically looking around, "If you leave the boss might really fire you this time!" Oluo warned and that stopped Levi for a moment, but only a moment.  
  
    "I can get another job, but somebody fucked with my sister and I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen again."

* * *

  
  
  
**-Hange** **-**  
  
    A smile came over Hange's face as she walked down the street from the restaurant she'd just come from interviewing at and headed towards the supermarket. When she showed up for the interview, she'd been smiling because she somehow managed to make it on time, but now that she was leaving the restaurant without a job… Well she figured she was smiling to keep herself from losing hope now. She was smart, she knew she'd work something out, and at least she had enough money to get some food for home and some pull ups.  
  
    Her lungs expanded as she took a deep breath trying to calm herself down, all week she'd been staying tough for Eren and Armin, she'd moved out of the dorms and back home in order to take care of her brothers, she never would let them see her cry, but it didn't mean that she didn't want to. Another deep breath… Her nerves were frayed, there was not enough breaths she could take to relax.  
  
    "Geez!" She yipped jumping up as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She fumbled around to dig out her phone and check the number, it was the daycare. Hange's breath caught in her throat, she nearly dropped the phone as she hurried to answer it.  
  
    "Hello!" she called into the phone, "Did something happen to one of the boys? Are they okay?" She asked in a hurry. She honestly wasn't sure what she would do if something happened to her brothers and her parents in the same week.  
  
    The voice on the other end spoke quickly saying that there was an incident, but the woman spoke as if she were preoccupied, Hange could hear Eren crying in the background and her heart dropped, had something happened to him? Was he okay? Before the woman from the daycare could even finish telling Hange what happened, Hange was moving.  
  
    "I-I'll head over now!" she'd fallen into a jogging pace now, nearly tripping over herself to get to the daycare. She was too tired to be rational right now, she'd probably gotten less than 10 hours of sleep in the last week and had four meals at most during that time, she was borderline delirious, but the thought of her brothers being hurt, pushed her forward. No matter how tired she was…. Eren and Armin were all she had, she wouldn't let them get hurt in the slightest… Especially not now.

* * *

  
**-Both-**  
  
    Getting to the daycare hadn't taken Hange too long, the bus happened to come around right as she got the call and Hange was there in less than ten minutes. She'd leapt from the bus before it even came to a full stop, Hange ignored how tired she was and jogged in the direction of the preschool, worried about her brothers more than the funny looks people gave her upon seeing her disheveled appearance.  
  
    Her head was pounding from over exertion, but she ignored it as the bright lime green doors of the daycare came into sight. With a sudden burst of energy, Hange picked up her pace, just to bump into something. Stumbling back in shock, Hange looked down, ah, she'd stumbled into some _one_ not some _thing_.  
  
    "Sorry, I'm in a-" she started, not even taking the time to properly look at the person as she began walking to the daycare again, her mind rushing as she wondered just what happened to her brother, but then the person she'd walked into grabbed her arm roughly and she realized this was the same someone she'd nearly walked into earlier.  
  
    "You're that Eren kid's sister, right?" He yanked her arm roughly and she blinked down at him, for a moment before yanking her arm away.  
  
    "I'm busy."  
  
    "Busy?" The guy snarled, grabbing her roughly by the arm again, "I think you have time to fucking listen to me, I got a call from the fricken day care and had to leave my job to haul ass down here because of your kid!" an irritated sigh escaped Hange as she violently yanked her arm back.  
  
    "I _have_ to _go_!" The daze she'd sunken into for the last few days fell away as she glared down at the shorter guy and anger took the place of lethargy, "Unless you want to fight me right now outside of this daycare in front of all of these people, I suggest you back off!" She boomed down at him, her chest held high and glasses shining ominously.  
  
    Levi wasn't one to back down from most people, but it was the middle of the day, some people who had been walking by stopped and were looking at them now, clearly curious if two people were about to fight in front of a daycare. The last thing he needed was to fight with her here and get in any more trouble with the law than he had in the past, he wasn't a minor anymore, if he got taken in, he had no idea what would happen to Mikasa and he didn't want to lose his sister.  
  
    "Tch!" Levi scoffed, breaking away from Hange first, pushing past her and storming into the daycare. He stormed through the hallways that were lined with stickers, rainbows and kids drawings and right up to the small office where he figured his sister would be.  
  
    "Where is Mikasa?" Levi demanded, swinging the door to the office wide open, eyes scanning the bright fluorescent lit room for a moment, before they landed on two little kids huddled on the floor, one of them being his sister, the other being a kid with green eyes and brown hair.  
  
    Mikasa was hugging Eren and patting his head and Eren was crying. Levi's teeth clenched as he wondered why his sister like this brat so much that even after he hit her, she was still comforting him. It pissed him off, she forgave too damn quickly for her own good.  
  
    "Mikasa!" Levi boomed storming over to her, "This kid fought with you?" He demanded. Mikasa's eyes flashed up to him and she frowned, wrapping her arm over Eren more protectively.  
  
    "No, he didn't."  
  
    "Don't lie for this brat!" Levi snarled looking down at Eren.  
  
    "I'm not lying!" Mikasa insisted as Eren went on crying.  
  
    "Excuse me, Mr.Ackerman? Can you please keep it down, the children can hear you yelling in the hallway and it's scaring them." One of the office workers chided, giving him a fake smile with worried eyes peering at him from behind a pair of old glasses that nearly reminded him of the glasses Eren's guardian had on and that pissed him off even more.  
  
    "Oh, am I scaring the children? Well too damn bad! Why would you leave my sister with him after he kicked her?!" Levi demanded angrily, walking so close to the woman that had spoken to him, that she was forced to take a step back out of sheer discomfort.  
  
    "W-well you see, Mikasa was the one who-" the woman stammered, blood running cold as she stared at Levi's harsh eyes.  
  
    "Where's Eren and Armin!" The door to the office flew open again and in came that shitty woman from before with her dirty clothes and her messed up hair and shitty glasses.  
  
    "O-over here." The office worker offered, using Levi's distraction as a chance to slip away from him.  
  
    Levi scowled in Eren's sister's direction ready to snap at her if she said anything to him, but she didn't even bother looking at him as she went to Eren.  
  
    "What happened?" she was crouched down trying to get a look at him. Eren turned to look at his sister, tried to speak, but every time he'd open his mouth and start to calm down, he'd start crying louder and harder, and eventually he gave up and dove into his sisters arms, wrapping his arms around her neck.  
  
    Levi watched the scene with growing anger, he wanted to know why this kid was here being coddled, when he was the one who hit Mikasa!  
  
    "I kicked Jean in the face…." Mikasa hung her head as she explained to Hange, Levi's eyes went wide, his temper rapidly cooling… Mikasa kicked someone else's kid?  
  
    "Jean kept bullying Eren because his mommy and daddy don't come get him anymore… Eren started crying… I kicked Jean for making him cry…" Mikasa explained and Levi sighed…  
  
    "Mikasa, you shouldn't just kick people…" Levi started, but Mikasa was up on her feet looking up at him with angry and confused eyes.  
  
    "You hurt mommy's friend last night when he tried to hurt us!" She protested, "I-I thought you taught me to defend the people you care about!"  
  
    All eyes turned on Levi as they tried to put together just what was happening in Mikasa's home.  
  
    "That's-." Levi strained, lowering his voice under the gaze of the office workers. He knew that Mikasa was just standing up for what she believed in, but he wished she wouldn't talk about yesterday right now. He could feel the questions of the workers in the office, he could feel them wondering why Mikasa's mother had friends trying to hurt them and he hoped that none of them would ask about it.  
  
    "Jean tried to hurt Eren so I protected him!" The little girl boomed, face getting red from frustration, "I protected him like you protect me, big brother, why are you angry?" she looked at him with such confusion that it hurt him.  
  
    Levi wasn't sure what to say and with the burning eyes of the staff on them now, he could feel them waiting for him to say something incriminating… The staff here never really liked Levi, they looked at his appearance and he could tell from the start that they judged him for it, but he thought it was fine as long as they didn't have any reason to look into their household… And now reasons for them to take Mikasa from him were springing up for them to pluck like daises and shove in the face of a social worker...  
  
     He looked over to Eren's sister who had been silent up to now and remembered how he'd roughed her up outside of the school a moment ago. His eyes squeezed shut in frustration.  
  
    All Eren's sister had to do to get back at him for yelling at her brother and roughing her up, was say that he'd physically assaulted her out there and he had no doubt that they'd be calling social services on his ass without even asking her for evidence since he'd stormed into the office yelling at them… Shit…  Levi knew very well that on paper they would have an unfit household… one that they were being evicted from, in a bad neighborhood, and now if they accused him of having anger issues or something, they might look at his record and see that on paper it would seem so since he did have a record from his younger days… From the outside he knew it looked bad, but from the outside, none of them saw how much he cared for his sister. The eyes hesitant of the staff still weighed heavily on him while everyone waited for him to speak, to explain himself or something and Levi didn't trust himself to speak now… He knew he was bad with words and this was a bad time for him to say something stupid and risk losing Mikasa to the state.  
  
    The desperate look in Levi's eyes as he looked around the room at the staff's wary faces like a cornered feral animal before he looked down to his sister with only concern in his eyes hit home for Hange. She might not have known their exact circumstances, but she knew that fear of losing her only family, and she saw that in his beady grey eyes.  
  
    Hange cleared her throat and everyone turned to her waiting to see what she would say since it was her brother he had just been accusing anyway, "Thank you for standing up for Eren, Mikasa." Hange pat the little girl's head with a smile, Mikasa's lip quivered as she met her gaze,  
  
    "I d-did good?" Mikasa stammered, "Did I-I do good? I-I don't get why big brother is a-angry, I t-thought I did g-good!" she sniffled wiping at her face with her sleeves.  
  
    "Yes! You must have a nice big brother to have him protect you so much." Hange smiled and the little girl nodded vigorously,  "Thank you for helping Eren, Mikasa… But next time, try not to hit someone unless you absolutely have to, like if they are trying to attack you first." Hange spoke gently and the little girl stared at her with moist eyes before running into Hange's arms, hugging her on the side that Eren wasn't tucked under.  
  
    "I-I do have a good brother…" Mikasa sobbed into Hange's shoulder, "I just wanna protect Eren like brother protects me." she hiccuped, her little hands clinging to Hange's shirt. Hange patiently soothed the little girl's hair, more than used to being cried on at this point.  
  
     Levi wasn't even sure what to say, he looked around the room and saw the staff staring at the scene of Eren's sister patting Mikasa on the back with the patience of a saint. The staff started talking amongst themselves saying Mikasa must really have a good brother to look out for her so much, and pick her up everyday when he was 'so young'; 'only 22'. He could have barfed with the thought of how quickly they changed their tune thanks to the words of Eren's sister… Whatever, at least all of the attention was off of him he could at least be a bit grateful towards Eren's sister for that much.  
  
    "I'll apologize to Jean." Mikasa sniffeled, "I'll say so-sorry." Mikasa stammered and Hange smiled down at her.  
  
    "Good."

* * *

  
  
**-Five minutes later-**  
  
    Levi was ready to take Mikasa home, but she'd gone with Eren and one of the staff members to apologize for hitting Jean, so in the meantime, he sat in the hallway on a rickety bench with Eren's older sister and the small blond child that he assumed was also her brother.  
  
    There was a long silence, neither of them spoke as Hange was too tired to be her usual friendly self and Levi… Well Levi just didn't involve himself with people willingly… He wasn't entirely void of all manners though, he still thought to thank her for not calling him out on being an asshole to her outside of the daycare, but that was harder than it sounded… Saying 'thanks' wasn't something Levi was used to, he never had anyone do anything for him worth thanking.  
  
    "Hey…" he called, fixing his eyes on the wall ahead, "Outside earlier, I was uh…" he paused, not really sure where to go from here, but she didn't skip a beat.  
  
    "A jerk?" there was no animosity to her tone, and he shrugged, not bothering to look at her, "It's fine." she let out a tired laugh, "We all have our moments when we kind of lose it." she couldn't help the worried look that she felt cross her face as she thought of her own situation, "I'd react the same if something happened to one of my siblings." she smirked tilting her head to the side as she played with Armin's hands, "Let's just call it being a victim of circumstance for today." he let out a bitter laugh at that.  
  
    "Ha. Never heard that one before; 'Victim of the circumstance'." he repeated to himself. Usually people just called him an asshole for behavior like that, but whatever she wanted to call it was up to her, he didn't care either way. Levi's eyes stayed on the wall in front of them that was covered with the kids' drawings, only then he realized that the drawing that was Mikasa's was right in front of him.  
  
    Hange nearly jumped by the speed in which Levi had stood in front of the kid's drawings in front of them, but she didn't comment as she watched him lean in close, his hands digging into the pockets of his clearly old, but well maintained leather jacket.  
  
    "…Seriously…" Levi mumbled to himself as he took a good look at Mikasa's picture. In her drawing she'd written the names; Mom, Dad, and Brother… But she'd drawn him under each name, in one drawing he was cleaning, in the other she drew him in a fighting pose, and in the last one she drew him in his work clothes, in all of which he was looking peeved. She captured him pretty well actually she even drew little tattoos on him, but he wasn't sure whether he should be proud or sad that he was all she had and that in not one picture he was smiling.  
  
    "Hange?" Eren's small voice called from the end of the hallway and both Levi and Hange turned to look at him.  
  
    "There you are!" Hange was smiling already on her feet, though Levi didn't miss the way she wobbled as if she might fall for a moment before regaining her balance… She did look a little klutzy anyway, it wasn't shocking, "Let's go home then okay?" The little boy held up his arms and Hange tiredly bent down to scoop him up, sure that he must have been sleepy from crying.  
  
    Levi briefly thought about how heavy carrying the two of them might be, but even though she'd been a little nice to him, he didn't feel obliged to help her out or anything; his concern was Mikasa… He didn't want to be bothered with anyone else. Turning back to Mikasa's drawing again, something red next to it caught his eyes. One of the children had drawn their family; A smiling mom, a smiling dad, a smiling person in a track suit and a little yellow blob with a smile, but the thing that creeped Levi out were the two big red 'x's over the mother and father's faces,  
  
     "Yeesh." he muttered to himself starting to back away from the creepy drawing until he saw the name; Eren. Just what kind of kid was his sister going around defending?  
  
    "They're gone." Levi spun around a bit shocked to hear someone next to him, but quickly relaxed.  
  
    "I didn't even hear you walk up," Levi pat his little sister's head as he looked down at her, but she kept staring at the drawing that he'd been looking at a moment before.  
  
    "He put the 'x's because he drew his family last week, but his mama and papa are gone now, so I helped him scribble them out… then Jean called Eren a dummy for scribbling out their faces…" Mikasa hung her head, "But it's not Eren's fault that his mama and papa died..."

  
    Grey eyes went wide as Levi looked down the hallway that Eren and his family had just gone down. That sister of his… was she the only one taking care of them? Must've been rough… But looking at the drawing it looked like they'd been a pretty happy family before, must've had life insurance at least… They'd be okay… He and Mikasa on the other hand, if they didn't find a place in the next four days, he wasn't so sure.  
  
    With a heavy sigh, Levi turned back to his sister before picking her up, "Come on Mikasa, it's been a long day, let's go home."  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope it was a good chapter, thanks for the support of the last one, I'm happy people like this. Also I accidentally posted this as like a one-shot before.. It's not, it's gonna have chapters, I just didn't know what I was doing when I posted this. Oops. Kinda getting the hang of it now though.


	3. The Rear View

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hange's trying to look forward and Levi's trying to stop looking out of his rear view mirror

- **Levi**

Levi and Mikasa sat in silence as the car took it's sweet time starting. He peeked back at Mikasa as he turned the key to start the car to see her looking out of the window with a distant expression. Following her gaze, he saw Eren, Eren's sister and their little brother all waiting for the bus. Eren was tucked under his sister's arm like he'd die being apart from her and he could see the toddler fussing, yanking at the collar of her button down shirt and crying. Mikasa and Levi both watched for a moment as Eren's sister stroked Eren's hair and bounced her other brother on her leg hardly looking annoyed at all, just concerned.

"Can't we give them a ride?" Mikasa was asking once she saw Levi looking too. Levi first thought was 'hell no', he really didn't want to get involved with them. It was fine if Eren was Mikasa's friend, but it didn't mean he was their friend. He had four people that he was admittedly… mildly… _friendly_ with and they kept him busy enough, the last thing he wanted was more people in his life, but then Mikasa laid on the puppy eyes and he wavered in his ability to say no.

"Please big brother?" She asked, her eyes still a little damp from crying earlier and Levi tried to think of which of the many reasons he didn't want to give them a ride to give her. His eyes flashed from Mikasa out to Eren's sister who was now frantically digging through her duffel bag while still trying to comfort her brothers and then back to Mikasa.

"Mikasa I-"

"Pleaase?" Oh god, she was killing him with those damn puppy dog eyes.

Levi looked irritably out at Eren's sister and her brood in time to see her hurrying to her feet, holding her brothers under her arm like luggage as a bus pulled up in front of them and they all got on.

"Their bus just came." Levi sighed, turning back to the steering wheel.

"You took too long." Mikasa accused right away. Levi could see her scowling at him through the rearview mirror, "Next time we can give them a ride then since we didn't this time… Right?" Levi raked his hands back through his hair, trying to think of some noncommittal way to answer his little sister who seemed hell bent on backing him into a corner today, "Next time… Right?" Mikasa crossed her arms and Levi sighed.

"Yeah, next time." He grumbled pulling the car into drive before pulling out of the parking space and taking to the road.

As they drove, Levi peeked back through the rearview mirror to see Mikasa still looking sadly out of the back window… It was almost unhealthy the amount she cared about that 'Eren' kid, she was genuinely, deeply upset that her friend got hurt… Damn and he still had to tell her that they would have to move out in a few days… She might have seen the eviction notice, but it wasn't like she knew what it meant… She hadn't been alive long enough to see as many eviction notices as he had, and now that their mother was gone, he was hoping he could make sure it was the first and last one that she ever saw.

"Kasa, we're going to the market. I'll make your favorite for dinner." he sighed defeatedly, hoping that would be enough to lift his sister's spirits.

"The barbecue pork lettuce wraps?" She asked, he could hear excitement in her voice as she perked up a bit.

"Yeah… I'll make those brownies you like too."

"Cherry brownies!?" She jumped up in her seat that she still had to sit in when she rode in the car and he smirked to himself. He was glad he'd learned to cook for his sister since her face always lit up like that when he did, he figured learning to make all of this stuff from scratch was healthier for her too.

"Yeah those."

"Can I take some of the extra to share with Eren and brother and sister?" She tacked on and Levi rolled his eyes.

"If you want to." This Eren kid and his family was already tiring him out and he didn't even know them, whatever, he'd let Mikasa have whatever she needed to soften the blow of them having to leave the only shitty little home she ever knew… He just was hoping the next place they moved to was better.

* * *

 

**The next day  
Hange**

Hange was smoothing down the pantsuit she'd borrowed from her mother's closet and tried not to think about how much it smelled like her mom as she waited for her name to be called. This was the third job interview she'd had lined up or today and the last one she'd managed to get… She had to make this work… She'd picked up some things at the grocery the day before and the boys had enough for dinner so long as she skipped a proper meal, which was fine since she hadn't had an appetite for the last week anyway, but now she didn't have anymore money… How would she feed them if she didn't get this job?

Her hands clutched tightly to her pants as anxiety bubbled up in her stomach… The walls felt like they were closing in on her for a moment, she felt choked… She'd been doing her best on these job interviews and nothing! It wasn't even like she wanted to do this stuff, she wanted to study science, but it wasn't like she could now!

Hange's breathing came quicker as she remembered that she couldn't go to her lab anymore, she couldn't do what she loved anymore because now she was stuck between choosing between _what_ she loved and _who_ she loved and her brothers won out every time. They won out every time, but she couldn't even buy them the snacks they liked she couldn't even cook well enough to make them a proper meal. Her eyes closed as she tried to the feeling of everyone watching her have a mental breakdown even though she knew they weren't watching her at all… She tried calm herself, she wiped the sweat that had sprung up on her forehead away and tried to breathe, to just breathe, but she hadn't realized how hard breathing was before, she took a deep breath, she tugged at her collar a bit and tried breathe again, but the choked feeling wouldn't leave her, it wouldn't go awa-

"Zoe Hange?" A voice called out and her eyes snapped open.

"Yes?" Hange answered smiling pleasantly as she got to her feet.

"We will interview you now." the kind looking man in front of her was saying as he waited for her to follow him.

"Okay, thanks." She smiled a little wider now, pushing down the anxiety from before so that she could function. After all, it was only an interview and she was sure she could get this job down, because she had to.

* * *

 

**Levi**

Levi realized how spoiled he'd been at his old job now that he was fired from his spot at the convenience store and looking for a new one. No one seemed to want to give him the flexibility in a schedule that would allow him the time to pick up Mikasa from daycare, and he needed a day job since now that Rose was gone, he couldn't go to his night job. Levi would need all of the money he could get too… He'd already told Mikasa they'd be moving in a few days and she was not happy with that news at all, she wouldn't talk to him at all… He'd have to make sure the next place they'd moved to was great.

With a sigh, Levi swung open the door to the office building he was trying to get a job at… It looked like it had good hours, it was close to Mikasa's daycare, it was clean which was a huge plus… He was happy that Eld had told him about this place… Until he entered the lobby that was.

"Fucking hell…" Levi muttered under his breath as he walked into the small lobby room to see a brown ponytail and pair of glasses that was becoming tragically familiar. Seeing Eren's sister here couldn't have been a good sign especially when the only open seat was across from her and one to the left… He walked in and took the last seat and cringed in expectance of her saying something to him, but as he sat down he realized she hadn't noticed him. Good.

Sitting back in his seat he tried to think of everything he had to do after this. He was still looking for a place to stay with Mikasa when they got kicked out in the next three days and even though he'd managed to talk Oluo into getting Petra to rent a room to them, he felt like it would be a pain in the ass. He was all too aware that Petra still liked him a bit even though she was dating Oluo and the last thing Levi felt like dealing with was walking on eggshells in his own place, nah, he wanted to check out some other places before he settled for what he could get.

A young guy walked out into the lobby and called out a name, distracting Levi from his own thoughts. The lady next to Levi stood up and walked after the guy since he guessed it must have been her name. Levi turned to look straight ahead again, but Eren's sister fell in his line of sight as he moved. It seemed to him that every time he saw her she had this stupid grin on her face, even a moment ago she had a patient smile on her face as she waited, but now she didn't look like that at all. She looked pale suddenly, a thin layer of sweat covered her face, her hands were balled up tight on her lap, her face looked like she was almost pained and her breathing came fast and shallow like she was strangled.

He looked around to see if anyone would say something to her, but no one did. Her breathing was coming even faster, she looked like she was going to pass out or something. He cleared his throat, unsure of what to do… He didn't want to get involved, but she really didn't look too great and she _did_ have two little brothers to look after, did they have anywhere to go if she bit the dust here? They would end up being taken by the state the way Levi was constantly worried Mikasa might end up being… The way he was for a hellish year of his life, a year he tried not to think about?… Fine he'd help her if it meant two kids wouldn't end up with the state, especially since he kind of owed her for helping him out at the daycare the other day… He shook his head knowing that she might try and be more friendly with him for helping her, but just as he moved to get up-

The office assistant called out a name that he'd missed and the eyes of Eren's sister snapped open just as Levi's eyes snapped away from her.

"Yes!" Eren's sister popped to her feet and scuttled off behind the assistant who called her and Levi scoffed to himself. Geez… He'd almost helped her… She looked fine now… But still, first he saw her wobble in the hallway and now this? Whatever, he wasn't going to over think it, it wasn't even his business to over think. Yeah, that's right, from now on he was going to ignore her, before he ended up getting overly involved with her and her family and ended up having another group of troublesome people to worry about… Petra, Eld, Oluo and Gunther were enough for him. And with that he quietly waited for his name to be called.

* * *

 

**Hange**

It was pretty hard for Hange to keep her head high this time as she stepped out of the office where her interview had just gone horribly wrong. Within the first five minutes of the interview Hange had not only managed to spill the coffee that was offered to her all over her potential employer, but she'd also spilled it on some of her paperwork that was neatly piled on her desk… Needless to say Hange hadn't gotten the job.

She was shaken, she left the room in a stunned state as she tried to think of how the hell she was going to get dinner for her brothers next week, how was she going to pay the bills? She blinked rapidly, her eyes felt hot with frustration, she wanted to hit something to let it all out, she wanted to cry or scream… No… What she really wanted was guidance, what she really wanted was help… What she really wanted was her parents back.

The assistant who'd called her into the back room before brushed past her as they both entered the lobby. She heard him call a name, yet she didn't catch whose name it was. She recognizes the person who stands as Mikasa's older brother as he moves quickly and confidently, following after the assistant. Her eyes meet his grey ones for a brief moment and she smiles because that's the kind of person she is, the kind of person who wants everyone to be happy and to be okay even when she's not.

"Good luck." She calls quietly as he passes. He doesn't respond though, she doesn't expect him to either. She's already picked up on his harshness, he's not the friendly type, but it doesn't matter to her, he doesn't strike her as the mean type that he seems to try and come off as because she saw the brownies that Mikasa gave Eren that morning, the ones she'd told Hange earlier that her brother had made extra of so that she could share some with them. Hange forced herself to take a bite of one of those brownies, and it was the best thing she'd ever tasted, she was jealous of his skills even, she liked it so much that she took one and kept it in her bag for a snack in case she felt dizzy again. She came to the conclusion then, that no one, no matter harsh they came off as, could take the time to make something like that, even going as far to make extra for his sister's friend, and still be a bad person.

Hange also knew that no one mean would look so worried about their little sister like he did the day before… The look of utter terror on his face when Mikasa spoke on how he'd defended her was clear and Hange could see how nervous he was that she'd say something about before, so she didn't say anything, because she knew the feeling, she didn't want to lose her brothers, she wanted to feed them and clothe them and take care of them… Which was why she needed money, which was why she _needed_ a job.

If Mikasa's brother was on the same boat as her… She really meant it when she said good luck because anyone in a situation like hers would need whatever they could get.

* * *

 

**Levi**

Levi walked into the office to see a pissed off looking lady sitting behind a desk and wiping coffee off of her folders.

"Please, come in. Sit." her voice was hard as she spoke, clearly irritated, not a good thing for him.

"Uh. Yeah." Levi replied hesitantly sitting down wondering if it was okay to work for someone who spilled their own coffee on their paperwork.

"Sorry about the mess." The woman spoke quickly rolling her eyes, "That last person who came in here spilled coffee all over everything." she explained not wanting a prospective employee to think _she'd_ spilled coffee all over her own work.

Levi almost laughed at the idea of that weirdo of a sister that Eren had spilling coffee all over the place, no wonder she wished him luck if she could mess up her own interview so badly. At least her mistake made his chances of getting the job a little higher, but even he might've wished her luck in the lobby if he knew how bad she was gonna fuck it up.

"So, what experience have you had." his potential employer was asking as Levi mentally kicked himself for spacing out during an interview.

"I've done about everything I could. Constructions, mechanic work, desk work, manual labor. I work hard, I can do overtime if you need me to." he started and held out his resume to her. His sleeve moved up as he held out his folder and he cringed as her eyes went right for his tattoos.

"I see." she replied unaffectedly as she skimmed through his file, but he could tell she wasn't really reading about his experience or what his old bosses had said about his work ethic, he could tell she was just turning the pages and pretending to be impressed before she told him what he'd heard all day today.

"You look awfully qualified, but you'd be the face of this office you know." She sighed folding her arms over her chest with false sympathy in her eyes, the kind he'd seen a million times from old girlfriends and 'friends' that had stabbed him in the back, the kind of sympathy that was meant to say sorry, but it didn't mean anything to either of them.

"It's the tattoos right?" He sighed leaning back.

"Partially, yes. You also have an intimidating aura about you. Not too good for this sort of place you know, maybe try and smile at the next interview a bit?" She offered trying to be helpful, "The young lady that was in here before had a million dollar smile when she walked in, her resume wasn't half as impressive as yours, but I would have hired her on the spot if she hadn't spilled my coffee." the woman shook her head, "Anyway, just keep that in mind. You can go."

With a scoff Levi got to his feet and moved to leave… Had he really just been told that he didn't get the job because of his face? That was a first...

"Tch… And that damn shitty glasses wearing four eyes could have gotten the job?" Levi mumbled to himself as he walked out to the parking lot. He dug in the pocket of the only nice slacks he'd owned to get his car keys, and looked up at the digital clock that was on the outside of the building before sighing… He thought he'd have the time to see a few apartments at least, but now it looked like he was going to have to go pick up Mikasa…

As he crossed the parking lot to hurry to his car, he spotted a brown haired mess of a human being waiting at a bus stop and checking her watch… He figured she was probably going to get her brothers now and what Mikasa asked him earlier played through in his mind. She'd asked him to give them a ride next time… He considered it for a moment, but then decided against it. He'd agreed to give them all a ride, not just Eren's sister and besides, it wasn't a promise he was eager to keep, not even for his little sister.

Then he saw as she pulled something out of her bag, something that looked familiar something brown and wrapped neatly with cling wrap... Ah, it was one of the brownies he'd made for Mikasa... He hoped on everything that was good in life (which might not have been much for him) that Mikasa hadn't told them that he'd made extra for her to give to Eren. Levi wasn't much one to care about image, but the image of a doting parent in an apron, who made snacks for his kid's friends wasn't something he wanted at all... He might have been good at domestic shit, but he was not at all domestic. He watched her a moment stunned to see that anyone could make food look so unappealing, she picked at the damn thing taking little bites like she didn't even want to eat it and while Levi might not have _wanted_ the title of a great baker, he sure as hell knew he was one and was slightly offended as he watched her wrap it up after only taking a few hesitant bites.

With an irritated grunt Levi got in his car and took off down the road, leaving the bad taste of a failed interview behind him and Eren's sister and sped on to the only real person who he'd concern himself with willingly; Mikasa, but he did look back once in the rear view mirror to make sure his hard work of what he knew were damn good brownies didn't get thrown away by Eren's wreck of a sister. They didn't, they got tucked away in her bag and his eyes left the rear view mirror as he decided that Eren's sister was messy and must not have had very good taste if she didn't like his food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more or less a filler chapter, in the next chapter things start picking up and getting interesting. Levi is good at a lot of things and not too prideful, but when it comes to domestic things, I'd like to think he likes his work to be appreciated as what it is; Amazing. Hange is mostly just too distracted to enjoy food right now. Hope you liked it even though it was a pretty flat chapter.


	4. Desperate Measures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hange's taking desperate measures and Levi is just trying to live his life and mind his own business.

**The next day**  
  
Eren was staring into the fridge with wide eyes as they searched for his favorite snack; applesauce, but he was sorely disappointed to find nothing but Armin's toddler snacks and a few frozen meals in the freezer. With a frown he shut the door, "Hange, can we go get apple sauce?" His little voice called across the kitchen to his sister who was busy feeding soup to Armin.  
  
    "Huh? Apple sauce?" it had been two days since Eren had gotten in a fight with Jean and she could tell Eren was still upset about it when she picked him up from the daycare the day before, so today she kept her brothers home hoping it would help with their mental stability… Which meant today, Hange didn't have a chance to go job hunting and the bit of money she had, she'd already spent on frozen meals and pull-ups for her brothers while she just picked at whatever was left in the pantry. Things like apple sauce and other fun snacks, sadly, were luxuries that she couldn't afford right now, especially with her job search going so poorly.  
  
    Hange looked down at the hopeful green eyes of her brother and forced a smile, "We'll see, kay?" she offered hoping that it was enough to ease the little boy.  
  
    "Okay." He smiled a flat smile before wandering off to the living room to play with some of his toys… She was sure he'd like to watch television, his favorite show was coming on tonight about  but she'd cut the cable service earlier in the week. A sigh escaped her for what much have been the millionth time that week… Armin's big blue eyes peered up at her and he flashed her a smile, and a tired smile crossed her face as she watched him… He didn't have much of his food left… She didn't have the money to keep buying frozen meals… She didn't have a job… But she still had to figure something out or risk losing her brothers… But what?  
  
    Well… There was _something_ she'd considered, something that would get her some quick cash… Something that would feed her brothers, but it wasn't a job she was sure she could do...  
  
    The spoon she was using to feed Armin hit the bottom of the empty bowl and he looked up at her eyes looking eagerly for more food… Her eyes fell to the pantry… Only one more can left.  
  
    Resignation washed over her… Liking the job she had in mind or not wasn't what mattered right now… Reaching in her back pocket for her phone as she stood to pick up another can of soup for Armin, her thumb dialed a familiar number, "Hey, Mike, you there?" she hastily opened the can, "You think you can babysit for me tonight? I have to run some errands later on and I can't leave my brothers… Mhmm… Thanks."

* * *

  
**That night**  
  
    "So… Where are you going so late at night?" Mike was asking as he was handed a squirming Armin.  
  
    "Ha-nni! Ha-nni!" Armin was yelling reaching for her as Mike tried to steady him and Hange gave him a patient smile as she pet his head, it was somewhat of an excuse to not meet Mike's eyes.  
  
    "No where, just have some chores to run." Hange was trying her best to come off as unconcerned, but from the look Mike was giving her, she was pretty sure it wasn't working as well as she wanted it to.  
  
    "Chores… At 9:30 at night?" she could hardly see the disbelieving look behind his thick blonde bangs, but she knew it was there all the same.  
  
    "Yes." She said flatly. He was silent for a moment… Despite their long standing friendship, Mike never crossed the line when it came to the business of his other friends, even if it was a childhood friend.  
  
    "Alright. Be safe, running your 'chores'." Mike still seemed worried, but he thankfully dropped the subject. Armin was reaching for her and whining as she opened the front door and Eren was standing in front of Mike with concern in his eyes too, he'd never seen his sister running chores so late.  
  
    "You'll be back to read us bedtime stories?" Eren asked reaching out to grab his sister's jacket and staring up at her with big innocent green orbs.  
  
    "Not tonight, maybe tomorrow." she smiled, bent down and pat his head, but he shrunk back still looking disappointed before he perked up.  
  
    "I'll read to Armin then!" he puffed up his chest proud to know how to read a a bit now and smiling up at her, his own way of assuring her that they can be strong too and it made her proud, "Be careful not to run into bad guys okay?" Eren's little hands pressed down on the side of her cheeks and she laughed, grateful for her brother's concern.  
  
    "I'll try." she stood up and turned to leave knowing that if she didn't leave now, she never would…  If she was going to take care of Eren and Armin, she was going to have to do some things she disliked… This was one of them.  
  
  
**\----**  
  
    Stepping off of the bus, Hange looked around the night street. Except for a few shady figures darting in and out of alleyways, the street was more or less empty. This was the part of town that everyone knew not to go to unless they had to, and right now, it just so happened that she had to go there. Walking down the street to her destination, the duffel bag she'd brought with her was being held so tightly that her knuckles were white. Despite the greedy looks in the borderline dead eyes people walking the night streets, she actually didn't feel afraid, Hange was tough and was more than capable than defending herself, the reason she was holding her bag so tightly was anxiety for the reason she'd come there.  
  
    The flashing lights of the signs in front of the building indicated that she'd arrived. Her eyes went up, the neon flashing woman with a big smile on her face that hung from the top of the building one hand on a neon pole and the other waving out, smiled down at her. Taking a deep breath, Hange's face set with determination… Once she entered this building… It wasn't going to be her pride that mattered… It was the money to take care of her brothers… And with that she pushed the door open.  
  
  
**-Forty minutes later-**  
  
    A quick look at herself in the mirror made her cringe a bit… Her face looked tired and the sequined two piece was too big for her. The crazy eyed, bearded owner said it was the best he could get for her, and that she was lucky to even get the job for the night since one of his girls quit today and he needed someone to fill in. From the way the owner looked her up and down she could tell right away he wasn't impressed with what he was seeing, but she couldn't have cared less as long as it meant she'd be able to buy food for her brothers tomorrow.  
  
    The other women back stage stared at her so hard that it nearly burned her, but she more or less ignored them as she put on her makeup. She brushed glitter on her cheeks that the owner of the club had handed her and smeared on some lipstick that she'd brought from home.  
  
    "Alright," She gave herself a hard look in the mirror, "This isn't about you… You've been wearing a smile all week, just keep it up." the corners of her lips forced into a hard smile as she heard her name being called by a smaller woman with fire red hair standing next to her. Hange nodded, took a deep breath and began walking to the stage.  
  
    "You're up." The woman pat Hange on the back, "Good luck out there, fresh meat."  
  
    "Great... That's promising…'

* * *

  
**-Levi-**  
  
    "You called me out here… For this?" bored grey eyes scanned the club that Gunther, Eld and Oluo had brought him to, while Mikasa stayed with Petra at her apartment for awhile.  
  
    "Of course! You've been looking pissed since you lost your job at the convenience store and we hardly get a chance to hang out all together!" Eld smiled brightly, ignoring Levi's scowl. Levi could practically see the germs jumping off of the sweaty men roaming around the place and at this point he didn't want to touch anything in this club, who knew what had touched the things here?  
  
    "Pissed? I lost my day job over nothing, I can't find a new one, I need to find a place to stay and now you all bring me here?" his arm gestured out at the women dancing on the stage and the people drooling over them at the foot of the stage and rolled his eyes, "This is stupid." he grumbled, barely loud enough to be heard over the thumping of the music.  
  
    "Oh come on! Don't be like that, this is a time to relax with your friends and take a load off!" Oluo smirked moving to pat Levi's back, but one glare from Levi made him think better of risking his precious arm, and instead let it rest back at his side.  
  
    "I need all of my money and you bring me somewhere to give it away…"  
  
    "We'll lend you-" Gunther started, but Levi held up a hand and cut him off.  
  
    "Forget it. I'm leaving, I still have to make Mikasa's lunch anyway." Levi got to his feet, shaking off his friends as they tried to pull him back with every intention of leaving right then until the lights dimmed and a raspy voice boomed through the club.  
  
    "Tonight Only!" The voice boomed, "We have a new dancer! Please show her some support!" a spot light burst onto the stage and out walked a woman that made Levi's eyes go a little wide with shock… He recognized her and she definitely was the last person he expected to see up there.  
  
    "Levi?" Oluo was calling, shocked by his friend's sudden interest in the stage. The eyes of Oluo and the rest of his friends looked up at the woman who was awkwardly coming down the stage in a too big outfit with too small heels, who was flinching under the brightness spotlight. She looked like a fawn in headlights as she fumbled around to get her hands around the pole at the end of the stage. Even in the weird ill fitting clothes, without the glasses and with her hair down, Levi recognized the strange woman from before right away as Eren's sister.  
  
    Most of the guests at the club burst into laughter as they watched her awkwardly take hold of the pole and hold tight to it shaking around awkwardly, almost to the beat, but not quite.  
  
    "The hell is she doing?" Levi mumbled to himself, it was all too clear that she'd never done this before in her life as she shimmied around, with a strained smile, clearly trying her best, though he could see how exhausted and uncomfortable she looked under the glitter and makeup slapped on her face. As he looked around it seemed to him that he was the only one who noticed her struggling as everyone else went on laughing like it was a damn carnival show.  
  
    It felt like the song she was 'dancing' to went on forever, but then it mercifully stopped and so did she; the laughter however did not. She was panting and still smiling as she looked over the club goers, but all she got in return were jeers and curses of people who were pissed that she was wasting their time, people asking why they even hired someone like her, though some people tossed her money for the laugh she gave them. Eren's sister seemed to ignore the jeers and gratefully accepted whatever she could get, going so far as to even thank the pigs… He remembered the way she trudged tiredly down the hallway earlier that week carrying her two brothers in silence, he remembered that her parents just died and she must have been all her brothers had left… was that why she was up there? Her brothers? Fuck… He also remembered seeing her at that job interview… The one she didn't get… And now he ran into her here the next day? It was pretty easy to put together how she ended up on that stage; the money.  
  
   _'Shit Levi, you know better than to get yourself involved, even if it is the same lady who didn't rat you out earlier in the week, you have enough crap to deal with… She wasn't smart enough to call it a favour, I don't owe her…'_ Levi was still reasoning to himself, his eyes on the desperate clutch on the cash in her hand said it all… He knew that feeling too well; Anything to get the bills paid. She was smiling too kindly as she took the money of the assholes that had been laughing at her and it was annoying him, was she stupid or something? Did she really think the owner was going to be okay with her crappy act? She must not have since she wasn't from around here and had no idea what kind of shady man the owner was.  
  
    "Hah! See Levi, I told you it would be fun if you came out! You didn't even have to pay for that comedy act! No feminine charm whatsoever!" Oluo was laughing his brains out along with the rest of Levi's friends, but Levi barely heard them as  he watched as she unsteadily leaned forward to grab tips from one of the customers who threw money at her, and she smiled with the same sincerity that showed on her face when she calmed down Mikasa.  
  
    "Levi?" Eld was calling, but their small black haired friend was already gone and making his way for the stage, digging in his back pocket for the twenty he knew he had. By the time he'd walked up to the stage, she still hadn't even seemed to notice him as she reached for the money… Then her eyes moved from his hand to his face as she went to thank him and, her smile was replaced with shock as her eyes went wide.  
  
    "…You…" She started, staring at him with utter disbelief, her eyes wavering a moment  
  
    "There's nothing wrong with doing this job, but if you're gonna do this, do it right." he commented, still holding the twenty between them, but then her eyes hardened, her lips pulled into a tight smile and she pulled the money from his hands.  
      
    "Thanks." her voice was cold as she turned and walked off of the stage. Levi let out a sigh realizing now that his wording might have caused her to misunderstand. He was trying to tell her that if she was going to do the job, do it somewhere else. Levi, unfortunately, knew the owner of this place from some other business he used to be involved with and he knew for sure that the owner was going to give her a hard time for that shit act she put on out there. Sure most people found her amusing, but Levi knew Kenny, the owner, and Kenny wasn't a man that liked laughter, not when it was directed at his work, Eren's sister would be lucky to leave behind that stage without a broken arm... How would she take care of her brothers like that?  
  
    Levi felt a pat on his back and spun around to see Oluo "Ohh, so that's your type, I had no idea." Gunther and the rest of his friends were laughing, but Levi's eyes didn't leave the back stage door that Eren's sister had disappeared slipped into, the look on her face just a moment ago was the same look that he felt when he was in that damn daycare's office and she didn't rat him out; backed into a corner between a bad and worse situation and looking for the best way out.  
  
    … Part of him was still telling him not to get involved, to just get in his car and go pick up Mikasa and mind his own business… But another part of him was nagging at him that he couldn't just walk away from someone who seemed to be the only person taking care of her siblings, just like he was. If he did nothing and she got injured by Kenny, she might be unable to get money for her brothers and they'd be taken away... She'd kept him from a situation where that might have happened to him, could he just walk away from that now?... Damn... He should have stayed home, this night was already becoming a pain in the ass, he _really_ didn't want to get involved, but… The sound of Kenny yelling back stage and the thump of something being hit hard against the wall could be heard even over the blaring music, and it made his mind for him.

  
    "Levi?" Oluo was calling wondering why his friend wasn't responding to their teasing in the slightest, and then watching as Levi stormed off.  
  
    "I'll be back." Levi called over his shoulder before heading backstage.  
  
    "Where are you going!?" Gunther called over the music, but by then Levi was too deep in the crowd to have been heard by Gunther.  
  
    "To do something stupid…" Levi mumbled to himself pushing open the door that led to the backstage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I feel so bad for people asking if things will start looking up for them soon and I just keep stretching out their suffering, I'm sweating reading the comments thinking to myself 'Gee I hope they don't hate me for the heartbreak I'm throwing down here, as if the actual series isn't depressing and angst filled enough...'
> 
> I'm really writing it this way because... well honestly I never planned to post this in the first place since I was just bored and sad and looking for distractions when this started, but now I guess I'm in this for the long haul so I have I plan to make this a long story, please hang in there. I swear I'll make it worth the heartbreak and sympathy for them >__>
> 
> Thanks for reading Sorry for the rant.


	5. Offer on the Table

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hange knows she can fight for herself, but a little help isn't bad either... But can she trust the person helping her?

  
    Hange went backstage counting her money as she turned the handle to get to the dressing area… She knew her act was total crap… She didn't even have it in her to feel embarrassed, not even when she realized she'd taken money from Mikasa's brother, because now the money she'd counted up to be a whole 83 dollars was in her hand. This was at least enough to feed for the boys for the rest of the week worth of groceries and-  Her thought's were cut short as she felt a blow to her body that nearly knocked the wind from her breathless. Brown eyes went wide as they landed on the deathly cold eyes of the owner who had his forearm pressed hard against her chest while he pushed her hard against the backstage wall.  
  
    "So, did'ya have fun out there? Did you enjoy making my place look like a circus act? Wanna be the class clown?" He was growling, the bitter smell of old cigarettes drifting from his breath.  
  
    "Look, that wasn't my intention." Hange bit back. A few weeks ago, she might have been intimidated by the ay he was looking down at her, by the ominous feeling of his breath in her face as he pinned her to this shady club's backstage wall, but she'd seen scarier things now… Her brothers potentially starving was way scarier than this guy.  
  
    "Well that's what happened!" The man's word came out as a hiss as he glared down at her with cold eyes, "And now you're going to pay for potential lost business thanks to your little stunt." the owner held out his free hand, "I'm not paying you for that act, but I see you got a few sympathy tips out there, hand them over and I'll go easy on you."  
  
    " _What?_ " she could feel the disbelief on her face as he eyed the money she'd been clenching at her side, "This is my money, you're not taking it all! Maybe I did look like an ass out there, but this is what I earned!" defiance shone in her eyes as she glared harshly up at him, "From what I saw more customers looked amused than disturbed. It can be a one time thing if you didn't like me, but I'm sure your business won't suffer enough to total up to what I made!" She huffed, slipping the hand with the money behind her back.  
  
    For a moment the owner looked down at her in shock before he pulled back on the forearm that he had pressed across her chest, "HAHAHAHA!!!" He laughed hard… Hange was confused, but figured it was better than anything else he could have done, "You're a real smart ass huh?" he was laughing so hard tears threatened to fall from his eyes, but Hange knew better than to relax… They were the only two back stage now and she could feel the air of danger coming off of him, "I'll ask you one more time nicely, since you're so smart; Hand over the money and I'll let you walk away from this with no more troubles from me." the threat in his eyes was clear.   
  
    Taking a deep breath and realizing that she would probably get hell for this answer, Hange looked the man dead in the eyes, clutched the money tighter in her hand as she remembered that she didn't even have enough to feed her brothers _tomorrow_ without this and then she spoke clearly; "No." The next thing she knew, he'd grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her straining it so hard that she thought it might break, but thinking fast she rolled with it, turning to the side and thrashing hard to get free from the man's vice grip before turning to him with labored breathing… She knew in her mind that didn't have the energy for this… not with all of the skipped meals and no sleep, but the adrenaline rush that coursed through her was telling her to kick his ass. She kicked her borrowed heels off to the side, not taking her eyes off of the owner as they clattered across the ground and she readied herself for a fight to get out of here with her money.  
  
    "You're tough! I should have hired you as security instead! Where'd you get that fight in you?" Kenny asked straightening out his coat with a menacing smile.  
  
    "I'm just hungry and you're trying to steal my meal ticket…" She huffed flexing her fingers before clenching them into fists. The owner laughed looking overly amused as he moved, hunching over as if he prepared to fight her too, but then someone interrupted.  
  
    "At it again, Kenny?" A cool voice called from the direction of the doors, Hange and the owner both stopped and turned to look at who was speaking.  
  
    "My former protege, how are you?" Kenny smiled looking genuinely happy now, all of his over whitened teeth showing as he looked over to the short man in the doorway.  
  
    Hange watched as the owner went over to the guy that she recognized as Mikasa's brother and her brows pulled together, why was he here? Was he working with this 'Kenny' guy? Had the tip he'd given her just been some sick joke so that at the end he'd come over and help Kenny beat her up and take all of the money back? Was she going to have to fight him too?  
  
    "Same as always." Levi replied sounding bored as he leaned against the wall next to the door. He could see Hange looking between Kenny and himself as if she was wondering whether she should run or not, and he hoped the look that he flashed her way was enough to warn her not to do that. Kenny had a bad temper, he might track her down.  
  
    "Tell me, why are you around here? I heard from a little birdy that you lost that day job of yours. Are you looking for me to help you with a job?" Kenny's tone was almost teasing, but Levi's hard stare at the man didn't falter, "I could always take you back, you've got me a lot of money back in the day so I wouldn't even mind upping your pay, whatever you need, I owe you that much." Kenny's shady smile got wider.  
  
    "Don't worry about my money, I'll take care of it." Levi's eyes landed on Hange, "But if you still want to do me a favor, then let this idiot off the hook for today." Levi didn't miss how Kenny's eyes went nearly as wide as Hange's.  
  
    Hange was more than a little shocked to hear Mikasa's brother seemingly trying to help her out, but too tired to express it as she panted, trying to stay up right on her feet, ignoring how her head was spinning, just in case this didn't work out and she still had to fight.  
  
    "Her?" the disbelief was heavy on Kenny's voice before he broke out in laughter, he threw his head back, slipping into borderline maniacal laughter. Despite how calm Levi looked, he was as much on guard as Hange was. Levi knew very well how quickly Kenny could go from laughter to violence in the bat of an eye, and if anything was swung his way, Levi wanted to be prepared to catch it and throw it right back.  
  
    "I'm paying off a debt of mine is all." Levi let his irritation show in his voice. Levi hated getting involved with Kenny, it was a hard lesson, but he learned long ago that Kenny was a heartless bastard, and even if the man was his uncle it was only by title… Levi'd sworn off talking to Kenny years ago when Mikasa was born, "If this dumbass chooses to come back after this, you can do whatever the hell you want. Wouldn't be my business anymore." Levi offered and Kenny's eyes lit up.  
  
    "She seems desperate, she'll most likely be back, it's not like a lot of other clubs would hire her and she's pretty interesting, she's got a fire in her eyes." Kenny nodded looking awfully confident, ignoring the deep scowl Hange was sending his way, "Alright, since you owe her, then I'll let her off the hook this time, but when she comes back, you aren't aloud to interfere again, right?" Kenny's smile was more amused than sinister as he held out his aged fingers laden with heavy gold rings out for Levi to shake it.  
  
    "Deal." Levi smacked his palm against Kenny's before shaking his hand.  
  
    "Well then, see'ya soon, Toots." Kenny winked at Hange before slipping out of the backstage area and to the front of the club.  
  
    A heavy silence filled the backstage now that Levi and Hange stood alone. She was looking at him, understandably apprehensively and he stared back a moment, calm and unflappable as usual as he waited for her to say something, or ask what he was doing there or something, but she didn't. She looked at his sour looking face and he tired brain strained to figure out if he was a threat…  
  
    "I could have handled this." she bit out.  
  
    "Good to know." he shrugged disinterestedly before turning and she realized then that he really wasn't a threat.  
  
    "Thanks!" She called and he stopped walking when she did and turned to face her again.  
  
    "It's only repayment for cheering up Mikasa the other day and not blabbing about me being aggressive and shit before." Levi said flatly, figuring that she probably thought he wanted something in return when he didn't. At his words he could see her visibly relax, "Don't think anything of it."   
  
    "You sure pay off small favors in a big way." She laughed, it sounded strained even to her, her vision was spotted, her knees buckled as she stood up straight now. Levi didn't move to help her as he watched… He'd repaid a favor and now he was going to move on with his life and focus on Mikasa. He turned and started to leave her on that note figuring she was fine and they could both go on their own ways now.  
  
    "You have a car right?" Hange blurted.  
  
    "Why…?" Levi turned and folded arms over his chest.  
  
    "Do you mind giving me a ride?"  
  
    "I mind."  
  
    "Please? You said owed me one before, now I'll owe you, what do you need? A chemistry set? I have one." she offered, but then regretted it, she liked that chemistry set, "Okay, maybe just the bunsen burner?" she offered again.  
  
    "The hell would I do with that shit?", he turned to leave her there figuring he'd done enough for her… But then he remembered what he'd promised Mikasa a few days before when they saw them waiting for the bus; he'd promised he'd give them a ride next time… The day before he'd ignored her at the bus stop by the job interview and now here she was today asking for a ride… He couldn't break his promise to Mikasa, "As long as you don't live on the other side of town, then just this once." Levi sighed turning to face her.  
  
    "Thanks!" Hange smiled weakly, just happy knowing that she wouldn't have to worry about passing out on the bus ride home or something. She held out her hands and gave him a hard look, "Don't move… I promise I don't take long to change." and with that she scurried back to the changing area and Levi folded his arms and waited telling himself. This was the last time he'd ever bother paying back a debt that no one asked him to pay back; this was turning into a chore.  
  
\----  
  
    At least she was telling the truth about being fast at changing. Within five minutes, they were both sitting in Levi's old car as he tried to coax the hunk of rusted dark green metal into starting. It took three tries, but eventually they were cruising down the streets in utter silence save for Hange's directions to her house… Her house which seemed to be on the other side of town…   
  
    "Didn't I say I'd drive you as long as you didn't live on the other side of town? How much further?" he complained, turning on his window wipers as a light drizzle started to fall.  
  
    "Uhm… We're not too far from my house now, maybe fifteen more minutes?." She hummed tiredly… With money off of her list of concerns for just a little while, she was feeling relaxed enough for her exhaustion and hunger to hit her like a freight train. Her eyes were half lidded and heavy the whole ride and suddenly her stomach growled loudly, the sound booming through the car.  
  
    Her eyes darted over to him a moment in time to catch the disgusted look he gave her.  
  
    "I've been… Preoccupied, forgot to eat." She explained with a chuckle. Her fingers pulling tiredly at the zipper on her green tracksuit that she'd changed into. She popped the zipper in her mouth and tried to content herself with that in place of food until she could get home and eat… Darn… There wasn't actually anything left there was there? The boys probably ate the last of the food for dinner, she'd have to wait until she went shopping tomorrow to eat.  
  
    They drove on awhile longer in silence before they drove past a fast food place. Hange hadn't even noticed where they were going until she felt the car suddenly turning and looked up to find them entering the drive through.  
  
    "Your damn growling stomach made me hungry. You getting anything since we're here?" He asked his grumpy face illuminated by the glowing of the menu.  
  
    "Uhhh… I guess I'll have the burger combo. Three of them!" She smiled at the prospect of food. Levi wondered briefly how she was going to eat three combos, but didn't care enough to ask.  
  
    "…Okay." Levi's pale hand was held out towards her… She stared at it for a moment before slapping her palm against it for a high five, "The hell are you doing?" Levi asked watching the confused look she gave him from the passengers seat, "The money I gave you earlier, hand it over, I'm not paying for you." he pushed his hand closer and she scoffed.  
  
    "That was pay! You can't just take it back now!" she folded her arms over her chest.  
  
    "I can." he replied flatly, still holding out an expectant hand, "I don't plan on doing you more favors; the twenty will cover the gas I wasted driving your ass out here and your food." Levi grumbled irritably, he honestly wasn't trying to actually give her the twenty in the first place, he'd only held it out so that she'd come over and he could warn her about Kenny, he didn't think she'd actually take it and it wasn't like he had money to burn.  
  
    "Fine." she dug the money from her pocket and slapped it in his palm, before he snatched it away.  
  
    "'Bout time." he grunted before turning to place their order.  
  
    She snorted in disbelief. Hange usually prided herself on being able to read people right off of the bat, but she couldn't figure him out. He kinda gave off the vibes of a good person, but then he kinda didn't at the same time… Either way, she definitely knew that he was the person ordering her a super sized burger and fries with a drink, and that was all that mattered to her right now.  
  
    Levi pulled around to the pickup window for their food and handed Hange the bags of food before taking back his change and putting it in his pocket. Paying must have only taken a few seconds at best, but once he'd looked over to get his food from Hange, he was shocked to see her next to him with her burger half done, slurping down her soda like a million dollars were at the bottom and her rent was due tomorrow, ketchup from her hurriedly shoving fries in her mouth smeared up high on her cheeks and she chewed savagely with her mouth open as she seemingly focused all of her energy into shoving food into her face. He frowned, slightly disgusted by the display and a bit pissed that the other day when she ate the brownie he'd made, she hadn't eaten it was as half as much gusto as she was eating this crap… She really must have cheap tastes...  
  
    "Close your mouth when you eat, if you get food on my car, you'll walk the rest of the way." He warned grumpily, squeezing the bottle of hand sanitizer he always carried into his hand once they'd pulled into a parking spot in the mostly empty parking lot.  
  
    For a moment, Hange's eyes left her food and she regained her sanity… as she looked over at him.  He was meticulously cleaning under his nails with the hand sanitizer too and she looked at her own hands… She hadn't even washed them since the club… Maybe she should have… Who knows what touched that pole.  
  
     "Ca- I Hab Somma dat?" She asked around her mouth full of food as she put her burger in her lap for a moment before holding out her hands for some of the hand sanitizer. With a scowl, he squeezed some into her palms, she smiled as she chewed as a thanks and looked around his car while she waited for it to dry.   
  
    Now that she was taking a good look, she realized that even though it was an old semi rusted car the inside was a spotless as it could get, there was not a crumb on the floor or a hair on the seat and she looked over at him… He was carefully folding down the wrapper on the burger before taking a bite, looking awfully frustrated when some of the sauce got on his sleeve. She snorted despite herself as she watched him dab the ketchup off in annoyance.  
  
    "What?" He could feel her watching him and it was annoying him.  
  
    "So you're like a clean freak or something?" She asked, with an amused glance.  
  
    "And you're a slob?" he bit back. She looked like she was considering it for a moment before she shrugged.  
  
     She took  another bite of her burger and a sip from her soda, "Oh, fast food has never tasted _so damn good._ " she moaned tossing her head back and rolling her eyes back in her head… She was unexpectedly… animated. When he'd first met her, he thought she was a bit reserved, but the more she ate the more noises she made; grunting, slurping, burping… He realized pretty quickly his first impression of her was wrong… She must have just been tired. Tired and desperate enough to go try and get work at Kenny's club… Damn… And Levi was hoping to save up a favor or two that Kenny owed him from awhile back for something better than helping this weird ass stranger next to him, but he ended up helping her anyway. Looking at her in that worn deep green sweatsuit, scarfing down her food like it was the first meal she'd seen in years, he couldn't think of anything she could have possibly offered him if he did decide to claim this favor anyway.  
  
     They ate in silence in the parking lot as Hange was too hungry to chat with him, and Levi had no interest in chatting in the first place. Levi took the chance to look around while they sat and ate. Looking around at the part of town he'd driven her to, it was pretty clear that she was living pretty well before her parents took the big dirt nap… He'd heard from the interviewer the day before that she could have gotten hired of she hadn't spilled the interviewers coffee, so why the hell did she stop going to job interviews and go to Kenny's shitty club instead? He usually could sum up people in less than a few seconds, but… her… He couldn't figure her out at all, but all the same he didn't care enough about her to make sense of her, he didn't want to get involved with anymore people than he had to. People got annoying fast.  
  
    "Hey," She called over to him once she'd swiftly finished her own food and was contentedly sipping on her drink, "Did you really just help me out back there because I was nice to your sister?" She asked, suspicion leaking into her tone.  
  
    Levi didn't even turn to her as he neatly refolded the half of the burger that he couldn't finish and put back in the empty bag, since he really wasn't that hungry in the first place. He didn't answer the question, explaining that he helped her so that she wouldn't get fucked over by Kenny like he'd been in the past was something that she didn't need to know, so instead said only; "Don't go back to that club." Hange watched him slightly shocked, "I meant what I said, I was only paying back a favor this time, if you go back and some stupid shit happens to you, that's on you." he grunted, putting the car in drive and following where she pointed.  
  
    "Well that's up to me then isn't it?" Hange sighed… She didn't want to go back to the club either, but in the end, she wasn't actually sure whether she would have another option, given her lack of work experience and lack of jobs around here. Her pride wasn't the thing she was worried about, notify it meant her brothers would suffer for it and she knew that the now sixty three dollars that she had wasn't going to last nearly long enough...  
  
    "That's on you." Levi repeated, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.   
  
    Both of their eyes flickered from the road ahead to the clock… Levi was worried if Mikasa might be anxious that he was taking so long to come get her, Hange was worried that her brothers might not be able to sleep without her being home. Unbeknownst to each other, they more or less had the same concerns in their minds; Money, their siblings, and survival, but despite their similar worries, they drove on in silence.  
  
    "Make a right here!" Hange blurted, so lost in thought that she nearly missed the turn onto her street, she didn't miss the sneer on the shorter man's face as he hurriedly made the turn, "That house is mine." She pointed it out in a rush, and Levi's comment about her taking so long to point out her street left his mind as her house came into sight; the place was huge.  
  
    His eyes looked over the old three story georgian style house, with it's long flower lined driveway, huge lush yard, fence that started from the end of the driveway and sectioned off what looked like a big backyard, the quaint looking porch and huge windows up above that he was sure was at least one more bedroom than they possibly could have needed even if their parents were still alive and an idea popped into his head.  
  
    Hange watched Levi suspiciously as he eyed her house and she briefly wondered if he was trying to case the place… She didn't know him really, he might not have come off as a bad guy, but she kind of got the feeling that they were both a little hard up for cash and a little fed up with trying to work things out, "Thanks for the ride." She said hurriedly trying to slip out of the car as she realized that she should have asked him to drop her off at the corner so that he wouldn't actually see where she lived… Her tired brain was not always too logical…  
  
    "Hey, hold on." Levi called after her, stepping out of the car and into the light drizzle after her, she spun around, obviously on defense, but feeling obliged to hear him out at least, "I helped you out a lot tonight you know… The ride, the food, saving your ass from Kenny… The way I look at it, you owe me."  
  
    "What do you want?" she asked, suddenly feeling like an idiot for letting her guard down around him just because he didn't seem so bad before and just because her brother was friends with his sister… She should have known better…  
  
    "Calm down, I don't want anything. It's just an offer that might help both of us." He cooly pushed his hands in his pockets.  
  
    "What?" she asked defensively.  
  
    "Looks like you got a lot of rooms at this place right? Let me rent one from you."  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never thought of Hange as a weak character and I'd imagine that in hand to hand combat she would give Kenny quite a run for her money since whatever she might lack in skill she'd make up for in tactics, strategy and tenacity.
> 
> Hurried to post this chapter since I was excited to write them formally meeting. Hope you liked.


	6. The Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi gives Hange an offer that she knows is too good to refuse.

  
    It took a moment for Hange's tired brain to process what he'd just said. She looked at the short man and bored grey eyes no longer looking so bored, but borderline desperate and she blinked in shock for a moment as the words sunk in.  
  
    "No." She said after a long moment before turning and heading towards her house in a rush.  
  
    "Shit." Levi mumbled, jogging after her, not bothering to lock his car, anyone who could manage to get the damn thing to start deserved to have it.  
  
     "Just hear me out, you need money right? Well, Mikasa and I are getting evicted in less than two days, I'll pay our share of utilities and for rent, and you don't have to pay us any mind." he was practically pleading at this point, and he saw the taller woman's hands freeze in her duffel bag that she was rustling around in for her keys.  
  
    "…You'll pay your utilities?" she asked without thinking.  
  
    "Yeah." he answered simply she watched the borderline desperate look on his face and she wavered. It really did look like he was in the same boat as her and he didn't really strike her as a bad person… But she'd been wrong before.  
  
    "What am I saying? I can't let some guy who's practically a stranger into my house with my brothers! You getting evicted isn't a good sign already." she scolded herself for considering it aloud as she went on hurriedly going through her bag, "Besides, the fact that you used to work with that shady club owner is suspicious enough." she scowled, sticking the key in the door, trying to ignore the pleading look in his eyes.  
  
    "Come on!" Levi borderline yelled in frustration, "I pay the rent where I've been staying these past few years, I haven't missed it once! The reason we're getting evicted isn't because of me, it's because of our-" he paused… what was Rose to them anyway? She damn sure wasn't a mother, "Our roommate." he explained, "That person ditched us with an eviction notice." letting his desperation leak into his tone…. He was well aware that crashing with Petra would mean that her place hardly had enough room for himself and Mikasa and Petra still had lingering feelings for him despite the fact that she was dating Oluo which might lead to drama later on… He just wished to give Mikasa a safe place to come home to where she didn't have to hear people screaming and arguing in the hallway, where she felt safe coming home to and this place looked like it. Eren's sister might not have made sense to him, but she didn't seem like she'd cause them too much trouble, he'd stay out of her way anyway.  
  
    Hange looked him hard in the eye," Look. I don't know anything about you, or your situation, I just want my brothers to be fed and stable and safe, I'm not too sure letting a strange man come live here is really smart if I'm trying to give them stability."  
  
    "And I just want a safe place for my sister, I don't care about what you and your brothers do. You can pretend we're not even there if you want, I don't do anything illegal, I don't even drink! I won't bring any trouble to your house, but we both know this arrangement would help us both out, you need the money, I won't mess with your life and I really can't find a place right now, and I'm running out of time-" He figured he shouldn't mention that the reason he was having such a hard time was because of his criminal record from his younger days, it wasn't anything too bad, but bringing that up wouldn't help his chances any, and he could tell from the way her hand was paused on the handle that she was really considering it, he just needed to give her one more push "And if it doesn't work out, Mikasa and I will leave."  
  
    Her head whipped around at that one, "You'll just go?" She asked slightly stunned that he offered that.  
  
    "No fuss."  
  
    "And you'll pay whatever I say, utilities included?" she narrowed her eyes.  
  
    "Long as it's reasonable for the space. I'll obviously pay for my own food and shi- stuff like that." he barely caught himself from cursing.  
  
    Hange bit her lip anxiously as she mulled it over…  She _really_ needed cash and she didn't have anyway to get it, now a way to get steady money and fast showed up on a silver platter.  
      
     Taking a deep breath Hange answered, "Well… I suppose we can form a contract, maybe do a trial period of 3 months, that way if it doesn't work out, you have time to find somewhere else and if it works out, we can go from there. "  
  
    Levi looked at her a moment, trying to tell if she was serious, "Really?" he asked unsure if she was serious  
  
    "Yes, you can come back tomorrow and if you don't like the room or my terms, we can try and work around it as long as it's nothing too drastic." She offered hesitantly… She still couldn't believe she was offering this.  
  
    "Then, I'll be back tomorrow." His reply was as hesitant as hers. He wasn't going to get his hopes up too high on this working out, but it was a good shot. She watched him jog down the porch stairs and down to his car, she heard it choke a few times before starting on the third try and then he was gone down the street.  
  
    She watched his car turn around the corner, wondering if he really would be able to pay. She didn't have a bad feeling about him as a person, hell she found his behavior a bit interesting and might have tried to befriend him as she did most people under different circumstances, but his involved her brothers. If it turned out he really was into bad things like working with that Kenny guy, she wouldn't let him anywhere near her brothers.  
  
    This might have been a very bad idea, but she didn't have a lot of options right now and getting paid a steady income from something like 'rent' really was a stroke of genius, she just wished she had more time to do things properly rather than having to rush and scrounge for this money.  
  
    With a sigh, Hange put the key in the keyhole pushing her weight against the door a minute as she let tonights events sink in… it seemed to her that desperation made some insane things seem a little less insane.  
  
    Slowly she turned the key and pushed the door open, as soon as she did, Mike was on the other side with his arms folded.  
  
    "Geez!" She jumped back in shock, "Why are you just standing there?" She gasped, trying to regain her composure.  
  
    "Eren and Armin had a hard time falling asleep. They were worried about you…" Mike said with a disapproving frown, "I was worried too, it's nearly 3 a.m." Hange's eyes landed on the clock behind Mike… Had she really been out that long?  
      
    "Errands took longer than I thought." she cleared her throat, "Sorry I kept you so long, I know you have things to prepare for your classes and all." she placed the bags of fast food that she'd bought for the boys on the table along with the mail that had been accumulating over the week and tossed her duffel bag onto a pile of shoes and bags that had begun to form near the steps before she shuffled into the living room and flopped her tired body onto the couch.  
  
    "Hange, you haven't been to classes all week, your puppy is worrying." Mike offered, sitting on the arm of the couch near her feet. She laughed knowing very well that he was referring to Moblit, her lab partner who seemed to really admire her work.  
  
    "I know, I'll be back once I sort everything out, I might take the rest of the quarter off. I have to take care of the boys…" she paused worried that she might concern Mike with her problems when she knew he had his own too, "I might be able to sort things out sooner, but in the meantime I'll just have to keep my head above water." she chuckled lightly, trying not to worry her friend.  
  
    Mike gave her another worried glance. Her hair was a messier than usual, there were smears of glitter and makeup on her face that he knew wasn't here before she left, she looked pale and like she'd lost weight since he'd seen her two weeks ago. It was clear that she was really overdoing it. He wasn't sure why was going on with her, but he was to worried to not say anything, "You don't have to be tough all the time. Eren and Armin aren't the only ones that lost their parents." he reminded her, he didn't have much money to help out his friend either, or he would ave offered, but he could at least offer her comfort if she wanted it.  
  
    Brown eyes lidded heavily as the words sunk in, but she didn't let the smile leave her face, she felt she might break down if she stopped being upbeat, "I know." she smiled, "I'm okay really." she hoped she was being convincing.  
  
     He knew she wasn't okay…Mike was there when she'd first got the call about her family being in an accident, he saw the panic and horror on her face as she told him she had to go before running down their college's corridors like a bat out of hell. This was the first time he was seeing her since that day, and he was sad to see that she hardly looked like her usual energetic and optimistic self… He wanted to help her, but if she wouldn't open up now, he wasn't sure how to do that. Pushing her to talk wouldn't help any though.  
  
    "I'll go then." he pat her ankle before putting on his jacket and walking to the front door. By now her eyes were closed, he figured she was tired and fell asleep mid conversation, and he turned to see himself out.  
  
    Hange listened for the sound of the door closing before she turned on her side "I'm too busy trying to get it together to even mourn my own parents." she let out a bitter laugh, "Guess I just won worst daughter award." her eyes were stinging, but then she remembered that she left the food out and that it might go bad if she didn't put it in the fridge at least.  
  
    Slowly she got to her feet and put the food away before dragging herself up the stairs and peeking into the boys room. She smiled to herself as she saw them both snuggled up next to one another… Even if she was a failure as a daughter… She was at least able to keep her family together the best she could.  
  
    Her eyes landed on the large empty guest room that was next to her room as she realized tomorrow that room might no longer be empty… She was still feeling anxious about this… But what choice did she have?  
  
    Tiredly, Hange trudged back to her room and set an alarm… She had to be up early tomorrow to clean the guest room and to take the boys to daycare while she showed the house to Mikasa's brother. Looking at the clock, she figured she could at least get in three or four hours of sleep before she had to get up, and settling for that much, she dove head first into bed and waited for sleep to come, and after an hour and a half, it finally met her.

* * *

  
**The Next Day**  
  
    "Levi, where were you last night?" Mikasa was asking from the back seat of his car while he drove her to school. Mikasa wasn't happy at all about him leaving her with Petra for so long and was even more upset that Levi told her that they'd be packing up their things soon, so she was being particularly harsh this morning. Her arms were crossed and eyes were cold as he looked at her from his rearview mirror.  
  
    "It's a secret." Levi replied flatly, as he drove to the daycare.  
  
    "I hate secrets." the little girl frowned crossing her arms… Levi sighed again… He was really going to have to make this work out for his sake, if he didn't she really might try and kick his ass in his sleep  
  
    "I know, Kasa, just wait until I pick you up later. You'll like this one." he sighed as they pulled up to the daycare.  
  
    "Fine." She huffed, not even trying to hide how unhappy she was over her older brother staying out so late. Mikasa was a smart kid, she'd already figured out that a long time ago, her older brother worked with bad people and did bad things to take care of her in the past and she didn't like the idea of her brother being a bad guy like everyone always thought he was, because she knew he wasn't. When he stayed out at night it always worried her that he might do bad things again.  
  
    Mikasa grabbed Levi's hand as they walked to the daycare and she once again looked up at all of the adults that gave her brother funny looks as he led her to the preschool. She never really knew why people thought her brother was so mean. He told her once that because of the pictures on his skin people sometimes think he's bad before they even knew him, but Mikasa didn't get it, she thought the pictures that he had on his skin were all pretty, she'd even helped pick a few of them out. Just as Levi told her before though, Mikasa ignored the funny looks the other grownups gave them and she tried to focus just on getting into the daycare, even though it wasn't any fun without… "Eren?" She called as her eyes landed on a familiar brown haired little boy who was stepping off of the bus a short distance away.  
  
    "Eren!" She waved enthusiastically, nearly falling over in excitement to see her friend again, he'd only been gone for a day and it was unbearable for her.  
  
    "Hey calm down" Levi scolded trying to keep a hold on Mikasa's small hand as she squirmed in her effort to run over to her friend as he stepped off of the bus with his older sister.  
  
    "Mikasa!" Eren smiled and got on his tip toes to wave back at his friend once he'd seen her and practically dragged Hange over to where Mikasa and Levi had been standing.  
  
    "You came back!" Mikasa smiled so bright, that Levi was sure she'd forgotten how irritated she was with him earlier, which was good enough for him right now.  
  
    "Y-yeah." Eren smiled weakly his eyes red rimmed from  a mixture of crying himself to sleep the night before and staying up late waiting for his sister… He didn't sleep well because he was afraid that something would happen to Hange and she wouldn't come back home just like his mom and dad, so when he saw her in the morning, he almost knocked her over in his excitement.  
  
    "Good morning." Hange offered Mikasa's older brother figuring he might be a little more friendly after they'd shared dinner last night.  
  
    "Yeah." his reply was utterly disinterested. Yeah, she wasn't too shocked by that somehow.  
      
     Hange turned her attention and watched Mikasa and Eren talking while she bounced Armin in her arms, the smaller of her brothers was pretty cranky from lack of sleep too. Hange felt horrible for having to bring them here when they were both so tired, but the last thing she wanted to do was bring Levi into their home not knowing if this deal would work out or not, she wanted to make sure he was safe to bring into their home and the last thing she wanted to do was tell Eren his friend was moving in and then it not work out.  
  
    "Sorry Eren, I'm just dropping you guys off for today, okay?" She stroked his hair back gently and he looked up at her a moment before straitening himself out  
  
    "S'okay… I'll be strong today too, like the heroes on TV." he stood up a little straighter as he said it and she smiled a sad smile… She didn't want him to feel like he had to be strong all of the times, not at four years old… She felt pretty useless for making him feel that way, but at least for a little bit longer, he wouldn't have much of a choice.  
  
    "Thanks Eren!" She cheered and he smiled before starting to chat with Mikasa about what he'd missed at daycare, while the two adults walked them into the building in silence, both of them figuring it was better to discuss renting the room when the kids couldn't hear.  
  
    They both signed in their respective kids in silence before walking out of the daycare side by side, still in silence as they pushed through the lime green doors and stepped into the day of light before they both stopped.  
  
    "How do you want to do this?" Levi asked, folding his arms over his chest as he looked over to Eren's sister.  
  
    "Oh, uh, well if you have free time now you can come see the room, if not you can come by anytime before-"  
  
    "Now's fine." Levi nodded starting to walk over to his car. Hange stood still, not sure if this meant she was getting a ride or what for a moment before he turned around and saw her standing there, "You just going to stand there?" he grumbled, looking annoyed, something Hange was starting to see was a common thing.  
  
    "Right." she answered scurrying over to the car before getting in and slamming the door shut a little too hard.  
  
    "Don't-!" Levi almost yelled at her for slamming the door, but pulled it together, he couldn't afford to offend this weird ass person, " _Don't_ slam it." he managed to say without too much irritation showing.  
  
    "Sorry, I guess I don't know my own strength." she offered as a weak joke in an attempt to lighten the air, but he didn't laugh as he pulled out of the parking spot and went onto the main road and she figured she'd leave him be for now. He might have still been upset with her for making him drive her across town the other day.  
  
    They drove in complete silence as they made their way to Hange's house. Only once or twice he asked for directions, but it seemed that he remembered most of the route from the night before, which she noted might have suggested he was most likely fairly intelligent, good, that meant he would understand her expectations from him as a tenant. She smirked to herself as she sat back in her seat… Even at a time like this her analytical brain was active.  
  
    It hadn't taken long for them to get to the house since there wasn't much traffic and before Hange even realized it, she was in her driveway.  
  
     "So this is the house." she cleared her throat and shut the car door, being careful not to slam it like she did before. She watched as he stepped out and looked up at the house, "I just want to say… About last night…" She started.  
  
    "Forget last night." he nudged a loose brick that was falling into the driveway with his boot as he spoke, "Your brothers are your concern, my sister is mine. I helped you once, just leave it at that. I'm not going to blackmail you into giving me the room just because I gave you a ride home." his eyes looked over the busted gutter and the chipping paint on the house in an unimpressed manner that Hange didn't miss.  
  
    "Good then." Hange let out a breath and relaxed a bit… That was actually her concern, at least he'd addressed it beforehand, "Well then, let me show you around." she waved her hand signaling for him to follow her as she headed for the porch, "I didn't have much of a chance to clean the common areas, so please excuse the mess." she chuckled, turning the doorknob. Levi tensed as she warned him that there might have been a mess… He didn't want to share a house with a slob, and from the way she was eating the other night, he got a feeling she might be.  
  
    He waited anxiously for her to open the door, trying to convince himself not to over think it, after all, how bad could it be?  
  
    "And here is the place!" She announced and the door swung open.  
  
    …It was a mess. There was a pile of mail near the stairs, stacks of shoes messily kicked off in the doorway, what looked like dirty laundry was tucked in one corner of the sofa, trash littered the living room's coffee table, there was a thin layer of dust over everything… He visibly shuttered. The space wasn't bad, the furniture was nice and looked fairly well maintained from what he could see underneath the dirt and trash… But the problem was; the dirt and trash.  
      
    A dark look came over Mikasa's brother's face and Hange scrambled to explain, "L-like I said, I didn't have much of a chance to clean, only the common area is a little messy haha."  
  
    "A little?" he grumbled brushing his finger against the railing and pulling it back grey before smacking his hands together to brush it off as he gave her a grim look.  
  
    "Ahem.. Yes, well I planned to clean that up." she mumbled trying to think of a way to distract him from the dirt… She'd picked up on it the day before that he was a clean freak and she wasn't exactly upping her chances of getting him to rent by showing him a dirty space, "Well the room upstairs isn't messy at all, it was a guest room, it's really big, so even while this space is messy, you probably wouldn't even have any need to be in this space unless you wanted to!" Hange said hurriedly, dashing for the stairs in an attempt to direct is attention to the main focus here, "Shall we go see the room you and Mikasa would be sharing?"  
  
    Taking one last look around the wreck of a living area, he managed to reply, "…Yeah. Fine.", It wasn't like he had a lot of options the rest of the place didn't matter too much to him, he cared most abut where he'd be staying.  
  
    As Levi followed Eren's sister up the stairs, she was yapping on about something that he wasn't listening too as he tried to imagine the space he'd be living in with Mikasa… he honestly wasn't expecting much. He thought she'd just give them some tiny little bedroom and try and screw him over on the price the way people usually did and he would probably still take the place if she'd let him. From what he'd seen from the driveway, there was a big fenced in backyard for Mikasa to play in, Mikasa's best friend lived here, and it was in a good neighborhood. Sure the place was a mess and needed some repairs, but it was nothing he couldn't fix up with the right tools and the landowners permission… Even if the room was a fucking closet, he knew it was the best he would get and it would make his little sister happy… So when he actually followed Eren's sister down the cluttered toy covered hallway and watched her swing open a door to what he'd been told would be his space, he was surprised.  
  
    The room was huge, way more than he expected, it was like the space of a small studio apartment, with all of the furnishings of one. Light poured into the room through a window that was on the far side of the room illuminating the soft brown colour of the wood flooring and the light blue and white furnishings. There was a bed, a sofa, a big oak desk, a small television in the corner and even a mini fridge… Now that he looked closer, there was even a small bathroom attached to the room. He let out a low whistle as he looked around.  
  
    "You like?" Hange smiled excitedly as she saw his expression lighten up a bit, "There are two more rooms upstairs if you don't, but this one's the biggest one so I thought it would be good for yo hand your sister."  
  
    "The furnishings come with it?" he asked thinking back to their old busted furnishings at their apartment. He might have kept their stuff as clean as he could, but it was still all busted and barely holding together, he knew he might have been reaching by thinking the furniture would come with the plac-  
  
    "Oh, I was going to move it out for your things, but you can have it if you want it. I don't really have any use for it." she shrugged as she looked around the room… It wasn't really her favorite room in the house, so she didn't really mind what happened to it.  
  
    "How much?"  
  
    "Well considering the amount of space and all…." She trailed off taking a second to double check the calculations in her head and Levi sighed as he waited to hear an ass busting number, "About 650 a month good for you?"  
  
    "650?" Levi scoffed. There had to be a catch, that price was way too good considering what he was getting, "And what? You want five thousand for utilities and for the damn furniture?"  
  
    "I already calculated the amount we spend on utilities, so whatever's over we can assume is yours and you can pay that. If you have any disputes we can go over the bills and check." Hange scratched her head as she spoke and looked around at the furniture, "And about the furniture, I actually was just going to move all of this out to storage or something… But if you want it, you can have it, saves me a lot of work. Consider it a house warming present?"  
  
    "It's… Free?" He asked hesitantly before letting out a disbelieving scoff, "No freaking way. Stop messing with me."  
  
    Hange blinked, "I'm sorry, is something wrong with my terms? Is it too much? I measured the room and calculated how much I should charge based on this area, I even made it a little less since there's not a lock on the door and there's not a kitchen attached, so I'm afraid I can't really negotiate much on the price." she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose completely unsure what his problem with the price might have been, she was certain it was fair.  
  
    "No, no. The price is uh… The price is fine. I'll take it." he stammered, a bit stunned by how fair she was being about all of this. It certainly wasn't what he was expecting when he offered this idea.  
  
    "Good!" Hange clapped her hands together excitedly before pulling out a roll of papers from the back pocket of her navy blue sweatsuit, "Of course I typed out a contract last night, you can read over it before you sign, but if you don't agree to the terms it can result in a raise of rent, a penalty or even termination of your lease." Hange explained quickly.  
  
    Levi took the contract from her and skimmed it over.  
  
    "It's not too strict," Hange spoke as he read, "This is just a temporary one since we agreed on the three month trial period. It's basically just saying no drugs, or illegal activities are to take place in the house, guests are fine, but if they're staying for over a week you should tell me first, any major changes to the room have to be run through me before hand, any damages to the room will be paid by you, if you smoke keep it outside, yadda, yadda, yadda, all the basic stuff."  
  
    "Hmm." he didn't see anything on there about no criminal history, so he was relieved for that, it might have been a little hard to explain his past run-ins with the law. By the way she had so meticulously researched everything on the pricing, he doubted that she 'forgot' to add that to the contract,  
  
    "So once I sign this… I can move in? I gotta be out of my place by tomorrow night. The last thing I want is to sign this and then have something go wrong." he glared up at her still hesitant about how smoothly things were going.  
  
    "Yup! I put that in there too, so long as you follow the rules you'll be fine." she pointed down at the contract, "You know I'm usually a pretty good judge of character you know, and under different circumstances I think I might have tried to be your friend."  
  
    He scoffed; as if he'd let that happen, but he let her talk as he went on reading the contract.  
  
    "I might have tired to be your friend despite the fact that I'm sure you've done some things that you might not be proud of in your life, which of course I'm only assuming because it seemed like you and that club owner used to do some work together and I can't imagine that man hired you on the straight and narrow." now Levi's eyes left the page and looked up at her coldly.  
  
    "Your point?"  
  
    "My point is, everyone deserves a second chance, but I don't have the money or the ability to forgive you if you mess up, because if you mess up and it hurts my brothers, you and I will have a _big problem_." her voice dropped lethally low, her expression turned grave and for a moment Levi wasn't sure which one of them had the criminal history in the room, but her face cleared up right after that and she was smiling again, "Of course since you have Mikasa, I don't really feel you'd do anything like that, but I still felt I should say it." she added with a laugh  
  
    "Right…" he paused ignoring how weird that moment just was and pulled out a pen from his jacket pocket before signing and initialing where it said to, "I don't plan to bring any trouble my way, or yours, I might have said it before, but you can pretend we've not here for all I care." he shoved the signed contract her way and she took it with a light smile.  
  
    "Well I don't want to pretend you're not here, feel free to ask me for anything you might need, or if you need someone to watch Mikasa or anything like that. You might be a tenant, but we're still living under the same roof."  
  
    "I'll pay you the 650 right now for the month." he didn't plan on asking her for shit. Whatever she was saying about living under the same roof didn't matter, this was just business to him and he still didn't want to get overly involved with her, "Do you want a check or cash?"  
  
    "Check please!"  
  
    "I'll get my checkbook from the car." he grumbled heading for the door. Hange watched him go and the second he was out of sight, she let out the breath she'd been holding nearly thing whole time… Her eyes scanned over the contract in her hands… She'd done it, she'd actually done it! She'd managed to get the money she needed _and_ some! She knew Eren would be fine with the arrangement since it was his best friend moving in, and Armin was too young to really be upset about things like this… It might be a little hard for her to explain when her friends came to visit, but for the first time in two weeks, Hange felt a weight lifted off of her shoulders, she felt like she could breathe again.  
  
    "Heheheheh!!!!" she spun around swinging the contract around before holding it close to her chest before kissing it, "Ahahahah!" she chuckled to herself before checking the signatures again, "It's all here, he really signed them all, I can get the apple sauce that Eren wanted, and those snacks Armin likes, I can get the pull-ups and maybe get Eren some new clothes since it looks like he outgrew his ones from last spring. Ahh! This is great!" she stared at the signatures and smiled to herself… Only then she realized she never asked Mikasa's brothers name, 'Levi Ackerman?" she mumbled to herself as she read his neat handwriting before she broke out into another smile, "Ahh! Thank you Levi Ackerman for this damn good idea! I can't believe I didn't think of it before, I could just kiss him!" she nearly giggled totally overwhelmed with her own relief.  
  
    "I'll pass." a grumpy voice called from the door and she saw Levi standing in the doorway with a flat stare, a checkbook and a pen.  
  
    "Ahaha, it was a figure of speech." she smirked, too happy about her sudden encounter with money to feel awkward.  
  
    "Mhmm. Who do I write this out to?" he asked uninterested in her explanation.  
  
    "Oh, Zoe Hange." she tucked the contract back into her pocket and watched eagerly as he signed the check.  
  
    "Here." he held the check out to her and her face lit up like a christmas tree, "I can start moving my things in right away, right?"  
  
    "Yes that's no problem!" Hange smiled, "If you need any help moving-"  
  
    "I got it."  
  
    "Oh, okay good." she wanted to go shopping for a new jacket for Eren anyway, so that was fine with her, "Alright, well I have some things to pick up from the store so…"  
  
    "Uh huh." Levi grunted uninterestedly as he looked around his new space, he could definitely make this work, he turned around and saw Hange still smiling in the doorway, "What?"  
  
    "Nothing, I just wanted to say thanks for coming up with this idea and I hope it works out well, roomie!" She beamed.  
  
    "We're not roommates."  
  
    "I know, I know, I was just saying." she smiled a little brighter, "Oh, and I figured you might want to put a proper lock on the door, one with a key, you have permission to do that, I also have a spare key tucked under the welcome mat out front, so you can use that until we get you a key of your own, and if you need anything else just let me know!"  
  
    "Uh huh." he turned away from her again, hoping that she realized that was her cue to leave. He waited until he heard the front door close before he turned back around to look at the door… There was no lock on the door at all, and this 'Zoe Hange' person seemed like the friendly type… He'd get a lock put on over the weekend.  
  
    "Tch… Guess I might need help moving all of my shit…" Levi mumbled to himself, pulling his phone from his pocket. He might not have been super fond of having friends, but he had to admit the ones he had were decent at least. He helped his friends and they always helped him the few times he'd ask, and this was one of the few times that he'd need their help.  
  
    "Oluo? You at work?… Just got off?… Good, listen, I found a place to stay, but I need help moving, you have the ti-" Levi had to hold the phone away from his face as Oluo over excitedly cheered about how honored he would be to be the first person to step foot in Levi's new abode, "Right… Well thanks." Levi answered once his hearing was restored. "Mhmm… See you in an hour then. Bye."  
  
    Slipping his phone back in his pocket, Levi took another look around, still unable to believe he'd managed to get a space this nice… He knew all too well that getting his hopes up would be dumb, that thinking at the age of 22 that his life might finally be taking a turn for the better would be stupid, but damn if he didn't want to believe it right now.  
  
    He tried to really let it sink in that this was his new place and smiled faintly to himself… Just a little bit, he kinda thought, things might be looking up.  
  
    "WHHHOOOO HOOOO!!!!" someone was yelling outside of the house, probably in the street. He peeked out of the window to find out who it was and to make sure he could avoid the neighborhood weirdo, but as soon as he did, he saw that Zoe person skipping down the sidewalk and jumping around happily waving the check in the air and he realized his landlord was most likely the neighborhood weirdo… Damn… That's right… Things could only look up for him to an extent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So glad I typed this up last week, would not have had time to write it otherwise. Ahh going to take a nap now, hope you like the chapter.


	7. Bet you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids find out about the move... Once they end up at the same house and Eld and Gunther make a bet.

**Levi**  
  
    Levi stood outside of his old apartment leaning against the wall as he waited for Oluo to show up since he'd been swearing for the past 30 minutes that he was only 5 minutes away. As he waited, people mostly passed Levi straight, though some gave him a dirty look or two that they hid quickly once he turned to see it. Neither the attention or the aversions were too surprising to him, most people around here knew his reputation. Since when he was young, he had a nickname around here; Humanity's Strongest… It was a stupid nickname, a nickname that carried the tale of a lot of mistakes he'd made, one that he'd hoped would die out and be forgotten once he over out of this shitty part of town for good…  
  
     A familiar shade of eye harassing orange rolled up in the form of a pickup truck that he recognized as Oluo's, along with two more vehicles he recognized as Gunther's and Eld's and Levi sighed… He just needed help moving, but he had a feeling they were going to try and turn this into an event.  
  
    "Why'd you bring so many people?" Levi grumbled pushing off from where he was leaning and walking over to his friends. He'd asked Oluo to help him because Oluo drove a pickup truck, but Eld, Gunther, and Petra all stepped out from their own vehicles to greet him.  
  
    "Well I told Petra that I was going to help you move, Gunther and Eld found out from Petra and wanted to come so we just-" Oluo explained with a broad grin as he looked over at Levi's frown, "D-don't be upset, the more people we have the faster your move will be done right?" He asked sounding a bit unsure, but then Levi's expression eased a bit.  
  
    "I guess." he sighed and Oluo let out a breath of relief.  
  
    "Good, let's get started then guys!" Oluo called leading the others into Levi's apartment building and up the dank stairwell to get to Levi's place.  
  
    Levi hung back a moment as the others went in. This building really was a piece of shit… The water pressure would drop sometimes or there would be no hot water, the locks were total shit, the hallways always smelled like piss and vomit, his neighbors were loud and the pipes were noisy, more than once he'd woken up to find the locks that he was sure he'd locked undone and things missing… But it had been his home for the last few years, he figured he should have felt something about leaving here, but he didn't, he just felt glad to wash his hands of this shit hole. There was not a single good memory he had here, save for the ones with Mikasa and she was coming with him so there was nothing to be missed here… He just hoped she'd feel the same after they moved.  
  
    With a tired sigh, Levi moved to go up the stairs just as his friends came down with his couch, "You guys can throw the couch into the dumpster out back, I got new furniture." He informed them as he walked up towards the apartment.  
  
    "Ohh, look at you, moving up in the world, huh?" Petra called with a cheery smile that nearly made him roll his eyes.  
  
    "Something like that." he answered simply. He didn't particularly feel the need to explain that his new weird ass landlord had more or less donated a room full of furniture to him, he figured it wasn't much their concern either way and instead moved to go gather Mikasa's things from her room.  
  
    Levi passed through the living room and stared at the spot where the couch had been a few minutes ago… That was the spot where the couch he'd see his mother passed out on used to be… The spot where his mother would snooze the days away or watch while Mikasa would cry in the other room as a baby, the spot where his mother would call for him to take care of Mikasa while she went out to party or whatever else she did when she went out. It was the spot where his mother called all of the shots through her slurred words and where her irresponsible behavior and selfish ways more or less left him with a kid to take care of at a young age. He wasn't sure he should hate her or just be thankful that because of her, he at least had Mikasa. Again he paused wondering if he should really be feeling something… anything about moving, before he turned away from the spot and moved to Mikasa's room to grab a box of her things. He decided that whether it was normal or not, he didn't feel anything about this and he didn't care if it was strange that he didn't… Thanks to the way he'd live his life, he was aware that he might have been abnormal, but he couldn't have cared less about all of that, all he wanted now was to move forward with his life and take care of Mikasa. Rose was gone now, and now was time to get rid of all of the things that reminded them of her. Hell, this was probably all long over due.  
  
    

* * *

  
  
**Few Hours Later**  
  
  
    Hange came rushing in the door with her hands full of groceries and her eyes on her watch as she practically threw herself through the front door. She really got too excited at the store to get the boys their favorite snacks and spent too much time there, now she had to hurry if she was ring to pick them up before the daycare closed, and with their delicate mental state this week, she was pretty concerned about what would happen if she was later than normal picking them up.  
  
    "Crap, crap, crap, crap! I'm going to be late, I don't want the boys to worry if I'm too late." she mumbled under her breath as she flew to the kitchen and hurriedly dropped all of her hurriedly bags on the counter before hurriedly rushing back over to the doorway checking her watch again. She'd be able to catch a bus that would get her to the preschool at the time she usually arrived if she hurried and-  
  
    Hange's rush came to a halt as she only noticed now that there was a group consisting of two men and a petite woman, that Hange'd never seen before, standing in her doorway staring at her with a confused expression.  
  
    "Uhm… Who are you all?" She asked, pausing in mid-step, her rip loosening now on the door knob.  
  
    "We're friends of Levi, the guy who moved in upstairs. Who're you? Are you the house owner?" a small woman with auburn hair was asking, eyes going up and down over Hange suspiciously. Petra found it hard to believe that this messy woman had just stormed in past them, and hadn't even noticed them until just then… Did she often have strangers just standing around in her house to the point where she wasn't alarmed by this at all? And she was young too, maybe about her own age now that Petra got a good look at her, did she really own this house?  
  
    "Well, yes, I own this place." Hange replied, and she could tell that the woman and her friends had more questions to ask, but Hange really had no time for that. "I'm in a bit of a rush, I have to go somewhere so I can't really talk." She spoke glancing down at her watch again.  
  
    "I just want to-" the woman started again looking eager to say something, but Hange really was in too much of a rush to be friendly.  
  
    "Have to do introductions later, I really gotta go!" Hange spoke as she hurriedly grabbed up her duffel bag and darted out of the door.  
  
    Petra scoffed as she watched the sweatsuit clad person slam the door shut before she could speak with her, "I was just trying to warn that Levi won't like how messy the common area is… Honestly at least I keep my place clean…" She pouted and Gunther laughed next to her.  
  
    "Still upset that Levi chose not to move into your place?" he teased, elbowing her side gently.  
  
    "N-no!" Petra's face went bright red as she crossed her arms over her chest, "I just don't understand why he'd move into a place like this."  
  
    "Well, it has a big yard, it's in a good neighborhood, there's more room here than your apartment, I heard that land owner let him have all of that nice furniture upstairs." Eld chuckled watching Petra's frown grow deeper as he listed off all of the plusses of living here.  
  
    "Besides, I'm sure Oluo is glad that Levi's not moving in with you." Gunther added in a low voice as Oluo came down the stairs happily whistling with an empty box that he was carrying to the trash. Petra's face softened as she watched him pass.  
  
    "Yeah, he probably is." She smirked to herself.  
  
    "Oh look! She's smiling now." Eld teased, "How fickle the heart of our young Miss Petra must be to date one man and be in love with another."  
  
    "Oh shut it, you know it's not like that." She huffed, "And it's not that I still have _feelings_ for Levi, per say, it's just that… Well him moving here is so sudden, you know?" Petra shook her head, "Levi's not the friendly type, and I'm pretty certain that we've been his only friends for years and he's never mentioned tis person before… This place is messy, and that person doesn't seem like the kind of person he'd get along with… that person seemed too strange to get along with Levi… what a weird homeowner" Petra hummed.  
  
    Eld and Gunther looked at each other and snorted a laugh, both thinking that only strange people could get along with Levi in the first place and knowing very well that Petra was just being jealous, and they were about to say it but then a voice behind them spoke first.  
  
    "What about the homeowner?" Levi's voice came from the stairway behind them and the three of them jumped before turning around to see a pair of grey eyes looking blankly down at them.  
  
    "N-nothing!" Petra blurted, "We just ran into them is all, but then the homeowner ran out in a hurry… your homeowner seems a little strange." Levi chuffed a laugh, he was more or less in agreement that this Zoe Hange was a little strange, but the part about her running out got his attention  
  
    "What time is it?" his eyes flashed over to a clock on the wall, "Shit." he hissed, no wonder she'd run out, it was late into the afternoon now and the daycare wasn't going to stay open much longer, he'd been so busy trying to clean the room that he hadn't even noticed how much time had passed, "If you guys plan on staying, wait in my room." Levi called to his friends as he grabbed his keys and ran out of the door nearly as quickly as Hange had run out of it, nearly knocking over Oluo who was coming through the door at the same time.  
  
    "Where's he going?" Oluo asked as he joined up with the others.  
  
    "In a rush like that? Most likely to get Mikasa." Eld nodded, "But who knows, the homeowner left a little bit before that, maybe they're meeting up to go on a date or something? After all, he got this place at a good price and all of the furniture, maybe he and that homeowner have a… _special deal_." he teased winking down at Petra who only scoffed in reply.  
  
    "Yeah right, I've hardly even seen Levi seem _slightly_ interested in a woman and… I actually can't tell if that person's a woman or a man…" Petra frowned, not to fond of the idea of Levi dating that person.  
  
    "Who ever said that Levi only liked women? Who can ever tell with that guy?" Gunther chimed in.  
  
    "That's true." Eld agreed with a light chuckle. Levi had been their friend for a long time and for reasons that ran deep between the 5 of them. Levi was the guy who might not have ever said you were his friend, or even admit to liking your company, but he was also the friend who'd fight off a pack of wild dogs with you if you needed him to without even asking how you _found_ wild dogs, he was the kind of guy that would give you the coat off of his back if you said you were cold, though he'd probably make a show of trying to be nonchalant about it. Any friendship that was so strongly built on trust and understanding for the amount of time that the friendship between the 5 of them had been, was not the type of friendship where his sexual preference would have mattered at all to them. He was their friend and to them, that would always be the only thing that mattered.  
  
    "Hey, was the homeowner the person in the sweatsuit running across the lawn? If it is… Didn't you think their face looks familiar?" Oluo asked scratching his head… He could have sworn he'd seen her somewhere before, but he'd only caught a glimpse of her earlier so it was hard for him to tell.  
  
    "Maybe, who knows." Eld shrugged before heading towards the stairs, "But hey, I'm going to go wait upstairs, my shift doesn't start for a few hours and I don't mind killing some time with you clowns." Eld smirked as Gunther and Petra followed after him, laughing over his comment, but Oluo stayed behind a minute, as he racked his mind… he was sure he'd seen the homeowner somewhere… But where? With a shrug he decided to go wait with the others, if it was important. he was sure he'd remember… Probably.  
    

* * *

  
**At the daycare**  
  
    Hange hurried to shuffle off of the bus as the daycare came into sight.  
  
    "Oh man, I hope I'm not too late picking them up." She mumbled under her breath  as she speed walked towards the school and mentally beat herself up for getting so excited about being able to buy food at the grocery store that she'd lost track of the time… Ugh, she could really punch herself for being so careless about the time! Most of the week since her parents had passed away, she'd noticed that Armin and Eren needed company more, Armin would wake up crying in the night more often than not asking to see 'mama' his two year old brain still unable to handle the permanence of death. Eren'd been coming to her room every night this week looking for a hug and asking to be tucked back into bed, he never admitted that it was losing his mom and dad that was bothering him, but Hange knew very well that's why he was coming to see her… Poor kid must have missed his mother singing him to sleep… Hange wasn't much of a singer, she couldn't do that, she couldn't cook either… cleaning was also not her thing… Basically if you wrote down a list of domestic activities Hange was aware that she might be able to do one or two, and not even very well. In the end, Hange figured if she couldn't be the domestic motherly type, she'd just do her best as she was, she'd try and be there on time to pick them up, hug them when they need affection and always be there for them… But here she was 20 minutes later than normal picking them up… What a start that was.  
  
    Once she'd finally signed the boys out, Hange practically flew around the corner to see her brothers, half expecting to see them huddled on the floor crying, thinking that she'd forgotten them, but as she turned the corner and caught sight of her brothers, she was relied to find that they were not at all distressed, quite the opposite actually. Rather then crying on the floor, Armin and Eren were on the floor playing happily with Mikasa, building castles out of bricks and laughing.  
  
    A smile crossed Hange's face as she watched her brothers laughing until their faces were red for the first time in weeks as they joked with Mikasa and tried their best to make the best and biggest castle they could. At least they weren't worried that she was late, she figured, a relieved short laugh escaping her.  
      
    "Oh!" Eren's eyes landed on her as she laughed, "You're here already Hange?" He pouted looking over to Mikasa who was looking between Hange and her brothers now, her eyes a little sorrowful as Armin and Eren started to run over to Hange. Eren paused halfway though and looked back at his friend while Armin ran straight to Hange for a hug.  
  
    "I'll see you later." Mikasa smiled half heartedly and Eren frowned turning to Hange with puppy dog eyes.  
  
    "Hange, can we stay until Miaksa's brother arrives?" Mikasa's eyes jumped wide as Eren asked the question.  
  
    "I-t's okay I'm okay alone, you don't have to stay!" Mikasa blurted as she ran to stand next to Eren, looking shyly over to Hange as she spoke… Mikasa didn't want to be a burden to any more people… She already felt like she was a burden to her brother, even though she was young, Mikasa knew the reason that all of Levi's clothes were old and almost always worn out, she knew why he was always so busy, it was because he bought food, books and clothes for her rather than doing what he wanted to do with his money… It secretly made Mikasa feel bad, so she thought that the best she could do was act brave all of the times, so that no one had to go out of their way for her anymore than her brother already did, "I'll be okay until brother arrives… I bet he's almost here." she smiled faintly, her face half buried into the scarf she was wearing.  
  
    All to took was one good look at Mikasa's shyly bowed head, and the death grip her hand had on the red scarf she was wearing to get the feeling that what she was saying, was not at all how she felt.  
  
    "Aww." Hange sighed with a frown, "And I really wanted to see how big the castle you guys were making would get but if we leave now, I'll never know." she made sure to hang her head in an attempt to look more distressed, but she peeked up in time to see Mikasa looking confused and Eren giggling.  
  
    "Then we should stay!" Eren sang giddily, grabbing his friend's hand, while Hange lifted her head with a playful sigh.  
  
    "Yeah, I don't think we have any choice _but_ to stay. If the castle isn't finished, then all of the people living inside will get wet when it rains!" Hange insisted before breaking out into a smile, "Come on, I'll help you guys." She put Armin back down to the floor who was excitedly following her, clearly unsure as to what all was going on right now, but down for anything at this point. Mikasa and Eren also trailed behind Hange as she walked around their castle, making a big show of looking it up and down, "Hmm, I see you three have a good start, but I think we can make it even better." A huge grin appeared on Hange's face as she looked down at the kids.  
  
    "This is gonna be great, my sister is a great builder!" Eren bragged to Mikasa while Hange got started building, "Once, she built us a huge fort in the back yard that was half as tall as the house! She even built little cardboard strategy tables for us!" Eren laughed remembering how they used to play fight in the yard so that they could take control of the fort. Mikasa's eyes lit up at his words, clearly impressed by what she'd just heard and he felt proud of his sister's fort building skills, "Come on!" He smiled brightly squeezing Mikasa's hand and led her over to where Hange and Armin had already started building, "It's going to be fun!" he cheered.  
  
    Mikasa's eyes looked from Eren whose bright green eyes shone over at her, and then to his sister and brother who were already hard at work making the castle and it sunk in for her that she wouldn't be waiting here all alone like she sometimes had to when her brother's work ran late, not this time. A smile crossed her face as she nodded at Eren, "Yeah!"

* * *

  
T **wenty minutes later**  
  
    Levi jogged into the daycare, pissed off about the traffic he'd run into and that he was late to pick up his sister and that she was probably the last person there again. It wasn't the first time he'd been late picking her up, nor was it the first time she would have been the last kid there, but he knew she'd never complain when he was late, not even when he promised her every time that he was late that it would be the last time. Dammit, he really hated feeling like he was letting her down…  
  
    His usually neat writing was only a scrawl on the sign out sheet as he hurried to find his sister waiting for him, because he didn't want her to be alone any longer than she had to. Mikasa was a good kid, he knew too well that she'd assure him she hadn't been waiting long, that she wasn't lonely, that she didn't mind playing alone with the blocks by herself. She'd probably be sitting in the play area by herself right now with that sad look on her face that she didn't even seem to know she wore when he was late… He'd have to make it up to her for being late, he'd have to-  
  
    Levi froze breathless from running in the doorway once he rounded the corner… He wasn't quite sure what to make of what he was seeing. He thought Mikasa would be sad and alone right now, but what he saw was entirely the opposite; she was laughing, her face red as she was held up high by his new landlord so that she could place what looked to be the final block on the huge structure that the four of them had managed to make. It looked like the thing was pretty well planned out, looked like there was a moat around the bottom, there were little gaps that looked like windows and- was that a draw bridge out the front?  
  
    "It's finished!" Hange exclaimed, putting Mikasa down to the floor and high-fiveing the kids all around.  
  
    "S'Biiiig!" Armin squealed, huge blue eyes rising as he tipped his head back, trying to see the top of it, but tumbled back on his bottom before he could.  
  
    "It is, isn't it?" Hange smirked, picking him up and holding him high so that he could see the top.  
  
    "I told you she was good!" Eren laughed, nudging Mikasa, and Mikasa beamed back at him in a way Levi very rarely saw. She looked… Really happy… He wasn't sure what he could have gotten her to smile like that… No matter how hard he worked, it seemed like it wasn't enough to make Mikasa happy, and not because she was a demanding, ungrateful child… But because he had a hard time being her provider, her brother and her source of comfort, it seemed like he could only manage two at the same time and made him feel like he was always letting her down.  
  
    A sigh escaped Levi and as that thought came into his mind it and Hange's eyes landed on him at the sound, "Look who's here Mikasa." Hange smiled, directing Mikasa's attention to the doorway immediately. Levi frowned why didn't that damn house owner keep her mouth shut? Mikasa was enjoying herself a minute ago, now she'd probably feel obligated to come over to him when she wanted to keep playing… Well that's what he thought anyway, but once she turned around, she faced him with a huge smile that was quite similar to the one she'd flashed Eren's way and ran right for him.  
  
    "Brother!" Mikasa called as she crashed into him, hugging his legs.  
  
    "H-hey Kasa." He smiled a bit, leaning down to pick her up.  
  
    "Look at what Eren's sister helped us make!" hew she cheered, wrapping one arm around her brother's neck while her other arm pointed out to the structure in the middle of the room.  
  
    "I see it. You did good." He commented, flashing a look at his landlord, thinking to thank her for staying with Mikasa, but when she smiled at him, he changed his mind. He figured if he thanked her, she'd take it as a sign that he wanted to be friendly... And he didn't.  
  
    "Well, since we finished the castle, I guess we should go home now." Hange sighed, picking up her duffel bag, "The staff asked us to leave it here for the kids to play with tomorrow so we don't have to clean it up." Hange smirked, but Levi got the feeling that she wouldn't have cleaned it up anyway.  
  
    "Can we give them a ride home today?" Mikasa asked Levi and he froze… Crap… He was going to use the time that it took to get to their new home to tell her that they officially moved out of the apartment, how could he do that with Hange and her brats with them?  
  
    "It's fine." Hange started, noticing the distressed look on Levi's face, "I'd need a car seat for Armin anyway."  
  
    "Levi kept my old one in the trunk of the car 'cuz there was no room at home!" Mikasa offers with bright eyes before turning back to face her brother. "Pleeeaaaaase?"  
  
    Levi tried to look away from the huge dark sparkling and begging eyes of his sister, tired not to cave in… But the next thing he knew, Mikasa, Armin and Eren were all happily chatting away in the backseat, while Hange sat next to him in the car.  
      
    "Thanks for giving us a ride." Hange smiled over at him while they waited for a light to turn green.  
  
    "Don't get used to it."  
  
    "Aww, no need to be so cold." Levi rolled his eyes as she smirked at him.  
  
    "No need to be friendly either." he replied and Hange chuckled as she looked in the rearview mirrors back at the kids, making sure they were distracted before she spoke again.  
  
    "So… You tell her about the house?" Hange asked in a quiet tone.  
  
    "Why?" Levi gave her a pointed glare and Hange chuckled again, his glare being all of the answer she needed.  
  
    "I didn't tell them either." she sighed as the light changed and the car started up again, "But hey, kids like surprises right?"  
  
    "Not mine." Levi grumbled. His hands gripped the steering wheel tight as he turned onto the street that Hange's house was on. Hange watched him a moment and took in his white knuckled grip on the steering wheel and the tense look on his face… He was really nervous about his sister's reaction wasn't he? She spun around again and looked back at her brothers… She figured she might have been nervous too, but after playing with the kids today, she saw how well they got along, and after the loss of their parents, a friend moving in might be good for them.  
  
    They drove in silence as they pulled up to the house and parked in the driveway, but the kids were still chatting in the back seat as if they hadn't noticed that the car had stopped. Levi shut off the car, and sighed.  
  
    "It'll be fine." Hange insisted one last time as she popped her seatbelt and got out of the car.  
  
    "Oh." Mikasa jumped, as the door shut. She took a look around, "This is where you live?" She asked Eren, looking at the big house next to the driveway, "Wow, it looks so cool, I wish I could move somewhere like this." She gasped and with that Levi gained a bit of confidence, well enough confidence to at least  to get out of the car and open the door for her of get out, while Hange wrangled Armin out of the booster seat on the other side.  
  
    Big black eyes stared up with confusion at Levi as he held the door open for her, "I'm coming out too?"  
  
    "Yeah. We had to move out today, remember?" Levi asked her as she still stared up at him cluelessly, "Do you want to see the new place or what?" he asked, and as he did, Mikasa's eyes went as wide as two saucers.  
  
    "We're moving _here_?" She asked, fumbling to get her seatbelt off before jumping out of the car.  
  
    "Yeah… They had an extra room and-" He paused as her eyes got glassy and her face went red, and in seconds he was crouched down in front of her, face heavy with concern, "Why are you crying?" He asked as big tears leaked down her face. He didn't think she'd hate the move so much that she'd cry, they just moved today, it wasn't like he could just up and pack their things up now.  
  
   _'Aw man, I really fucked up this time… I should have told her before and now she's crying? Damn.'_ Levi cursed in his mind, but his guilt trip ended pretty quickly as Mikasa hugged him around the neck.  
  
    "This is the best surprise ever." She blubbered, squeezing him so tight he almost couldn't breathe, but he was okay with that.  
  
    "Geez, Mikasa I thought you didn't like it."  
  
    "I love it!" She insisted, pulling away to look at her brother with a huge smile.  
  
    "I can tell." Levi let out a brief chuckle as he pat his sister's head.  
  
    "Mikasa and her brother are moving in with us?" Eren asked excitedly as he looked to his sister.  
  
    "Yes, they'll be staying in the big room down the hall for awhile, the one next to my room. But their space is different than the other rooms in the house okay? Think of it like they're our neighbors okay?"  
  
    "Okay!" Eren cheered happily, before running around to the other side of the car and going right up to Levi with a look of deep determination, "Excuse me, Mr. Mikasa's brother sir, can I show Mikasa the new truck I got in the backyard?" Eren asked bravely.  
  
    Honestly, Levi wanted to tell him no, but the kid looked like it he was going to shit himself with nerves from even talking to him and Mikasa's puppy dog eyes were doing a number on him so, "Go ahead Mikasa, go see the truck and then come right back-" Levi sighed, watching the two kids run off to the backyard before he'd even fully finished speaking.  
  
    "Sorry, Eren's kinda energetic like that." Hange smirked.  
  
    "Hmm." Levi grunted, locking his car before turning to go inside. Hange was a few steps behind him, holding a happy Armin in her arms. Levi really hadn't thought about holding the door for her and almost shut it on her, but at the last second he remembered that she was carrying a 2 year old in her arms and his hand paused on the door, making it look for a moment that he was holding the door for her.  
  
    The sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs was a firm reminder to Levi that he still had guests here… He'd really thought they'd leave by now, well he'd hoped so anyway, he never knew what to do when his… people that he associated with… hung around for long periods of time. He wasn't too good with small talk, Oluo and Petra talked too much, Eld and Gunther joked around too much and Levi was too tired for company today.  
  
    "You're back!" Oluo and Petra cheered once their eyes landed on Levi, but the moment they saw him holding open the door, they quickly turned Hange.  
  
    Oluo's eyes went wide as he got a better look at the landlord now, "Ahh! Now I remember where she's from! The glasses threw me off!" Oluo yelled, pointing excitedly at Hange, just as Mikasa and Eren ran back in the house around Hange holding the truck Eren had been talking about. The children looked up at the unexpected company curious as to what was being yelled from the stairs, but Oluo hadn't even seemed to notice them as he started up again "She was from Kenny's club! She was that weird stri-"  
  
    "Olou!" Levi barked, cutting his friend off. Though Levi might not have cared to be Hange's friend, he knew that some things kids just didn't need to know. Levi had done some less than legit things to get money for Mikasa, and the last thing he would have wanted was for Mikasa to hear about those things from the mouth of a stranger.  
  
    "S-sorry." Oluo stammered, scratching his head uncomfortably, only now noticing the dark look on Hange's face and the kids that were standing in the doorway. Hange didn't say a word as she looked at the man, she simply sighed, and moved past them on the stairs so that she could put Armin in his play area upstairs. Sensing the weird change in environment, Eren trailed after her to make sure his sister wasn't upset, leaving Mikasa, Levi and Levi's friends behind.  
  
    "Mikasa." Levi called looking down at his sister, "Why don't you go look around the new room? It's up the stairs at the end of the hall. All of the furniture is blue and white, you can't miss it." Mikasa knew it was a request and not a suggestion, so with a brief nod to her brother's friends, Mikasa headed up the stairs to check out her new place.  
  
    "She has two children?" Petra asked quietly in disbelief once she was sure no one else could hear them talking upstairs, "She was working at Kenny's club too… So you're living with a stripper, who's our age with two kids? Are you sure that's a good idea?"  
  
    "She doesn't work there, and those are her brothers." Levi scowled as he looked around the doorway, hardly bothering to worry over his friend's questions. Once he saw Mikasa crying with joy out in the driveway, nothing he felt, and nothing anyone thought about the situation would have been enough to change his mind about living here. This place would make Mikasa happy… he peeked into the messy living room again and frowned…. Even if it didn't make him happy.  
  
      
    "Her brothers? She told us she owned this place." Eld questioned now, "If they're her brothers, then her parents own here right?  
  
    "Ugh, then why is it so messy here?" Petra frowned looking around as Levi did.  
  
    "And if she worked with Kenny, she might bring trouble your way." Gunther added.  
  
    "Yeah why stay here?" Oluo asked.  
  
     Levi sighed, he didn't feel like playing 20 questions about somebody who he didn't even care about's life.  
  
    "Look, I don't know her well, but her parents are out of the picture," he spoke firmly giving his friends a pointed glare, "seems like she's the only one who's looking after them. Kenny's club was a one off fluke. Since we're in the same situation of trying to raise our siblings so I don't think she'll bother Mikasa since her little brother is Mikasa's best friend. Seems like staying here will make Mikasa happy, so I don't give a flying fuck about anything else. I don't know the landlord, don't want to either, so just stay out of her way just like I plan to and she'll do the same. That was our deal." Levi scowled.  
  
    His friends stared at him in shock as they took in everything he said, Petra and Oluo looking the most shocked of all… So... This Hange person's situation was like Levi's?  
  
    "Right." Eld said with a firm nod, realizing that Levi was probably tired from moving and working hard to even find a place to move to all week… he probably didn't feel to have company, "Well as long as this is what you want, it's fine, we'll drop by another day once you've settled in." He smirked.  
  
    "Do whatever." Levi grumbled as he watched his friends head for the door.  
  
    "Fine, but- Ah, I forgot my keys upstairs." Oluo exclaimed, immediately jogging back up the stairs to get his keys from where he left them in Levi's room, but just as he neared the end of the hall, Hange stepped out from her brother's room and her eyes landed on him, her expression unreadable.  
  
    "Hey, you." Hange nearly snarled the words as she closed in on Oluo, taking long strides to meet up with him.  
  
    "Me?" Oluo gulped nervously pointing at himself.  
  
    "Yeah…" Hange walked like a puma in for the kill as she closed in on him until his back was against the wall, "You know what you almost said down there in front of my brothers?" She asked. Oluo swallowed, his mouth dry as he stared into the glare of her glasses, "Make sure it's something that remains something that was only _almost_ said." she glowered, poking him hard in the chest, "You understand?" Hange asked, her voice hard and cold.  
  
    "Y-yes sir! M-mam, yes mam?" Oluo stammered, and the dark look on Hange's face cleared up at the panicked words.  
  
    "Sir, Ma'am, doesn't matter much to me," Hange smiled as she walked towards the stairs, "Just remember not to talk about that though, I would appreciate it." She smiled brighter before disappearing down the stairs.  
  
    Olou watched the stairs a moment before running to the end of the hallway, grabbing the keys he'd forgotten and darting out of the house, without even remembering to say goodbye to Levi. He peeked back over his shoulder a few times as he ran towards his car where Eld, Gunther and Petra were all standing and waiting.  
  
    "Slow down, Oluo, you know you might bite your tongue." Petra scolded, growing with concern for her clumsy lover's well being.  
  
    "Y-yeah, I just had to get out of that house…" Oluo panted.  
  
    "Haha, you still get scared when Levi talks all harsh like that?" Gunther teased.  
  
    "It's not Levi, it's that house owner! When I went to get my keys she corners me right, and she'd all like 'What you almost said, make sure it stays _almost said_ ' or something like that and she said it with this scary face, but then a minute later she was smiling and being all friendly." Oluo gushed, nervously still trying to pull himself together, "I don't know if Levi staying here is a good idea, that homeowner is fucking crazy!"  
      
    "Hah!" Gunther snorted a laugh, "And Levi's not a little off? Don't you remember how he got the title 'Humanities Strongest' back in the neighborhood? To let someone like Levi just live there for cheap, I figured she was at least a little crazy anyway. But even if she seems a little scary, there's no way she can top him when he snaps, I'm sure it's fine. Besides, she's probably the first person he's met that's even remotely in a situation like his own…" he paused and wiggled an eyebrow at his friends, "I bet he falls for her."  
  
    "Yeah right!" Petra yelled right away, and not surprisingly Oluo yelled right with her.  
  
    "Hey, You never know." Eld chuckled, "A man and a woman living together under the same roof? Things happen."  
  
    "You're forgetting the kids and Levi's personality though." Petra reminded them and Eld chuckled, admitting that he might have reason to rethink agreeing with Gunther.  
  
    "Hey, love is a powerful thing, I mean no one ever thought that you'd settle for Oluo, and look at you two!" Gunther laughed and Oluo frowned.  
  
    "Hey! I'm a damn catch, Petra didn't settle, she got prime choice with me! Besides, I'm not a psycho like that homeown- ah!" Oluo's words stopped suddenly as his mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood.  
  
    "Geez, Oluo, didn't I warn you about talking too fast," Petra frowned as Oluo nursed his face, "Come on, it's time to go, before you keep talking and bite your tongue again. If I have to take you to the hospital for blood loss again just from you biting your tongue, I'll really be upset." she frowned, leading Oluo to the passengers seat of the car, before she walked around to the drivers seat, mumbling about Oluo's bad tongue biting habit the whole way before she got in the car, waved back at Eld and Gunther and took off.  
  
    "So, two hundred dollars they don't get together then." Eld offered Gunther as they waved their friends off.  
  
    "Two hundred they do." Gunther smirked, holding out his hand that wasn't waving.  
  
    They both looked to the house that their good friend Levi had just moved into as the sound of fire alarms came from as smoke billowed out of what looked like the kitchen window. They were pretty sure they could hear Levi yelling from here.  
      
    "Deal." Eld chuckled shaking Gunther's hand.  
  
      
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The smoke at the end there? It's Hange's cooking; put her in a lab and she's a miracle worker, a kitchen? And her not burning it down is a miracle.
> 
> Pretty much a filler chapter to start moving into the real meat of them having to live together, but I want to show other aspects of their lives, not just each other, I want to make the story feel natural. Don't know how to describe it, had a hard time with this chapter because I wasn't sure how to write this part in particular, I have stronger direction for the rest of the story I think.


	8. Differences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hange and Levi have differences, some of which cause them problems at bad times. Mike is just finding out about Levi staying there and this news makes him worry about his friend.

**A week and a half later**  
  
    It was the middle of the night and Hange's head hung low over the cook books and job ads that littered the kitchen island, "Ahh, are there really no jobs around here that would give me enough time to pick up Armin and Eren in the afternoon?" she sighed, chewing her thumb nail while she scanned the job ads. The money Levi gave her was enough to hold her head over the choppy financial waters, but just barely. Sure Hange's parents paid off most of the bills for the month before they… passed… But if Hange was going to get through next month without taking putting herself in debt, she was going to need a part time job at the very least.  
  
    "Well this job search is more difficult than I thought it would be." She grumbled to herself with a heavy sigh. Her eyes left the job ads for a moment and went to the cook books she'd taken out from the library earlier that week… Her gaze then slowly moved to the fried eggs that she'd been trying to cook… They were cooked… To the point of looking like charcoal, "Guess cooking is harder than I thought it be too."  
  
    "Haaahhh…" she sighed as the cool night air from the window blew into the kitchen. She'd opened the window to let the smell of burnt eggs out of the house before anyone could smell it… Right about now, she was starting to feel pretty jealous of Levi and his apparent cooking skills.  
  
    For a week or so now, she'd been going out during the day to look for part time work, and when she returned, nearly every time the smell of amazing, savory, mouth watering food always filled the entire house, but she never saw a trace of it, and save for one small clean area on the counter, the kitchen looked untouched. A few times Hange had followed the delicious smells to his room down the hall to ask what he'd cooked just out of curiosity, but whenever she'd gone to ask him, the door to his room was shut, the lock he'd put on the door was always locked, and even if she knocked, he never answered, so she always ended up just leaving… But she always walked away still with a nagging curiosity…  
  
    It made Hange feel awful knowing that that because of her own lack of cooking skills, her brothers were stuck eating either her horrible food or something from a store… She knew she couldn't keep feeding them that stuff, it wasn't good for them, but she wasn't getting any better at cooking either. For a moment she wondered how Levi ended up getting so good, she'd tried those brownies he made before, and they were amazing. Had Levi ended up cooking for Mikasa or was he just always good at that stuff? They'd been living together for a week and a half now and they'd both been so busy, that only now did Hange realize that she knew as little about the man as she did when he moved in. Levi caused her no trouble, just as he promised when he moved in, but that didn't change the fact that Hange was curious about him as a person. He was kind of awesome if she really thought about it; he was only a year older than her and was far better at taking care of his sibling than she was… How he got so good at this stuff was really nagging at her now. Maybe she'd get better at this stuff if he gave some pointers… Yeah, now that she thought about it, asking him for tips was a great idea!  
  
    Just then, the front door clicked open and Hange peeked over from where she sat to the entrance way in time to see Levi step into the house looking exhausted and her excitement from her idea a moment ago washed over her as she got to her feet. Asking him for tips, why not start now?  
  
      
  


* * *

  
  
    Levi sighed as he slipped off his shoes in the doorway, it had been a long day for him. This week was his first week back to work at his night job at a factory at the edge of town… He'd forgotten how tiring that job was after being away for a little while, but he was glad his boss there had even been patient enough to take him back in the first place. Tried grey eyes looked straight ahead at the stairway as he thought about Mikasa… He felt that here was safe enough for him to leave her in the room at night while he went to work. Though he would have rather not have to leave her in the first place, he had to admit that he didn't feel that his landlord would have done anything to the his own sister since she she seemed to have her hands full with her own brothers, to the point where he'd hardly even seen her since moving in… But that didn't stop him from getting a lock put on their door earlier in the week and from telling Mikasa not to let anyone in the room but him, just like how it was when they lived at their old apartment.  
  
    A wide yawn came from him as he picked up his shoes to carry them up the stairs… All Levi could think about was getting some rest, it has been a long week of trying to get used to staying at this new place and the sounds of doors opening and closing in the hallway and his landlord's brothers crying and walking in the halls throughout the night hadn't done much to help him get sleep either. Waking up to every little noise in the night was a habit of his that had proven to be pretty useful when he was living in his old neighborhood and wanted to make sure he was awake if anyone tried to come in and hurt his family… But now, it was a habit that was annoying him. He would only sleep for 15 minutes at a time before the sound of a door opening and slamming shut would wake him in the night. The sounds never woke Mikasa, much to his relief, but it annoyed the hell out of him; as far as he was concerned, there was no reason for the landlord and her brats to be making so much noise in the middle of the night.  
  
    Another sigh escaped Levi as he now tiredly headed for the dark stairway, not bothering to turn on the light switch as he walked… He should have known better. As soon as Levi went to take a step, his foot came down on something that sped forward under his weight, with a speed that his tired mind hadn't been expecting and the next thing he knew, he was thrown down on his ass with a loud _thud._  
  
    "Dammit!" he hissed under his breath, tilting his head back in frustration, before leaning down to see just what had committed this act of violence. He pulled the item close to his face to get a look at it through the dim stream of moonlight coming in from the living room windows. It was a toy car that had been carelessly left on the floor, that _someone_ hadn't bothered to pick up. He grumbled unintelligibly to himself, throwing the toy across the room.  
  
     All week this had been driving him insane. The common areas seemed to be getting more and more messy as time passed and not saying anything was a huge effort on his part. It was pretty clear that when his landlord had told him that she was planning to clean up, she was either lying or had no idea what the hell cleaning was. At this point, Levi wanted nothing more than to clean that house until it was so clean it was unrecognizable, but he also didn't want to do that and then have the landlord start to treat him like cleaning the whole damn place was his job… So in the end, Levi was pretty much forced to just deal with the mess, because he couldn't bear to leave now, not with the way Mikasa had been acting since they'd been here. Everyday since they'd been here, Mikasa woke up with a great big smile and her eyes shone bright with a contentment he'd never seen her have before, she played in the yard with her best friend during the day, she went to daycare without any fuss, and came home with a jolly attitude, she was just a way happier child now… He wouldn't do anything to take this place away from her, but shit, if living here wasn't driving him crazy.   
  
    "Fucking slob." he grumbled reaching his hand out to get back up, but all too late he realized that there was another toy there and it rolled under his hand sending him thumping back down to the ground, "Shit!" he growled now fully frustrated, "How much shit is left laying around on the damn floor?" He kicked his leg out and heard toys roll around the floor, much to his displeasure… He could feel his anger at the lack of cleanliness in this house rising by the second. This was more than being dirty or messy, this place was turning into a safety hazard and it was all one person's fault.  
  
    Suddenly the light clicked on, "What are you doing down there?" A shocked sounding voice was asking and Levi turned to see the slob herself standing in the doorway looking surprised, with her hand on the light switch.  
  
    Her eyes looked genuinely curious and it took everything in Levi not to curse her out for being so disgusting, but he knew that probably wouldn't help out his ability to continue living here, so instead, Levi bit his tongue.  
  
    "Let me help you." she offered her thin hand out to him, but he ignored it as he got to his feet on his own… Who knew what her hands had been in? She might have played in trash for all he knew.  
  
    "Are you okay?" She asked looking him up and down, but he didn't even look at her, He only nodded harshly before silently looking down at all of the toys on the floor… There was a sea of them.  
  
    Hange watched as Levi looked around at the mess on the floor and she laughed uncomfortably, "I was going to get that up, but then time just flew by and I didn't get around to it." Levi closed his eyes tight in frustration, using all that he had to keep his composure and _not_ snap and call her out for being the slob she was.  
  
    "Oh, you're going to sleep?" She called after him as he brushed past him and headed for the steps. Again, he quietly nodded a harsh nod without looking in her direction as he disappeared up the steps. Her face quirked to the side once he was out of sight and she heard the door to his room, open, shut and lock.  
  
    "Hmm, he must have been really tired if he came in and just sat on the floor." Hange hummed to herself, easily navigating abound the toys as she moved to the stairs, "I guess it's better if I ask for tips morning." she shrugged before going up the stairs and going to her own room.  
  


* * *

  
 **Next day**  
  
  
    She never did get a chance to ask him about tips the next morning. In the middle of the night Hange woke up to a light illuminating her room; it was her computer screen, it flashed an email from Mike. Apparently there was a lab taking paid interns near his job and if she wanted a shot at the job, all she had to do was type up a paper saying all of the reasons she wanted the job… Hange tumbled out of bed to get to her laptop and immediately started typing up her paper. A paid internship with flexible hours? That sounded exactly like the kind of thing she needed! And she knew exactly what to write in her paper too, as long as she could get it done in time, she knew she would at least be considered.  
  
    Hours passed as she typed, but she hardly noticed as she typed, edited, retyped and finally got to the point where she felt it was good enough to turn in… Of course by the time she reached that point, she hadn't noticed that the sun had come up until she'd pressed the print button without even bothering to save, the program crashed right after and her file was lost, but she didn't care so much since all that meant was that she'd have to be sure not to lose this version of it.  
  
    "Oh no, what time is it?" She asked looking hurriedly to her clock, "Oh man, if I'm gonna make it to this interview I'm going to have to drop the boys off at preschool now… Like right now!" She stammered, rushing to her feet and darting over to her closet to look for something semi professional to throw on as her hand brushed over her messily arranged clothes, "Sweat suit, sweat suit, sweat suit! Oh come on I have to have something else!" She flew down the hallway to her mother's room, nearly tripping over the toys in the hallway; she'd be sure to get those up later.  
  
    Digging hurriedly through her mother's closet, she managed to find a button up shirt and a pair of pants she could wear for today. Without bothering to go back to her room, she changed right there and spritzed on some of her mother's perfume, well aware that she wouldn't have time to shower anyway, so she'd just have to work with what she could.  
  
    Coughing from the perfume, she now ran down the hall pulling her hair back into what she'd hoped was an acceptable ponytail as she went to the boys' room and threw open the door.  
  
    "Rise and shine!" She sang, her voice tight from nerves as she wondered if she'd even make this interview on time.  
  
    "Morning Hange." Eren yawned rubbing his eyes as he sat up to greet his older sister.  
  
    "Morning to you too! Hey what do you say we have a little race this morning, Eren?"  
  
    "A race?" Eren's eyes lit up, his interest piqued.  
  
    "Yeah! I'll buy you cookies after school _if_ you can get dressed faster than I can dress Armin." She offered, proud of her quick thinking to get her brother's ready for the day without missing her interview.  
  
    "You're on!" Eren was already on his feet running to his dresser before his sister had even finished speaking and Hange didn't skip a beat as she ran to Armin's dresser and pulled out some clothes for him. Once they'd picked out their clothes, it was a mad rush to the bathroom down the hall to brush teeth and clean up a bit. Armin's teeth were hurriedly brushed and Hange kept an eye on Eren's haphazard brushing skills as he watched his sister from the side of his eye to make sure he was staying a step ahead of the competition. With one hard spit of toothpaste into the sink, he threw his toothbrush into the cup he usually kept it in, knocking the cup over in the process before running to do the stairway to beat her downstairs.  
  
    Hange was right on his heels, quickly helping Armin rinse how mouth before running to her room to grab her paper that she'd been printing and then going as carefully and quickly down the stairs as she could with a giggling two year old in her arms.  
  
    "I beat you!" Eren teased as soon as she rushed into the kitchen.  
  
    "Aww, you sure did." She chuckled tensely, placing her papers on the counter and  Armin in his high chair before pouring some cereal for Eren and a smaller bowl for Armin. She fed Armin quickly and let Eren feed himself but her eyes stayed on the clock and the moment the two of them stopped eating, she was rushing them over to the door.  
  
    "Okay boys! Today we're going to leave early, alright? So I'll help you with your shoes, okay?" She smiled tightly, hurrying to slip on Armin's shoes while Eren got started on his.  
  
    Eren's brows pulled together in intense concentration as he tried to tie his own shoes, but he just couldn't get it, and in the end, Hange ended up tying them for him before ushering them right out of the door to catch the bus. Hange checked her watch as she ran for the bus and ran down a mental check less as she went; business clothes? Check. Armin? Check. Eren? Check. Bag and wallet? Check and check. The bus pulled up into sight the moment she was fully sure she had everything and she practically dove onto it with her brothers before paying and finding them a spot to sit.   
  
    "Phew, I made it." she sighed with relief as her brothers made themselves comfortable in their seats.  
  
    "Again, again!" Armin clapped his hands together beaming up at her with expectant blue eyes, thinking that her running with him was loads of fun.  
  
    "Another time Armin." She smirked down at him, hugged him to her side as she did. Taking a deep breath, relief washed over Hange as she realized that barring all unforeseen occurrences, she'd make it to this interview on time, and if she did say so herself, her paper was pretty damn good, good enough for her to get this job even! Yes, for the first time in while, things were really looking up for Zoe Hange.  
  
    

* * *

  
 **Meanwhile**  
 **Levi**  
  
  
    It was finally a much deserved day off for him after working straight through the week, and though he woke up in a bad mood, he'd already decided that he'd make Mikasa a big breakfast of eggs and pancakes before he took her to preschool… Well that was his plan anyway, but it was harder said than done since it meant he had to walk through the hallways to get to the kitchen.  
  
    Grumbling, Levi somehow managed to make his way down the toy covered stairway and into the sea of toys that spanned across along the living room and the entrance area. It was killing him to live like this. Even though his weird ass landlord insisted that the downstairs spaces were all shared areas, he still refused to linger in those spaces unless he had to… just passing by those messy areas was stressful for him and once he finally managed to make it to the kitchen he felt as if he'd been physically injured as he caught sight of the mess.  
  
    "What the fuck happened down here?" Levi snarled to himself as his eyes drifted over the kitchen. The smell of old food filled the air, cereal littered the floor and the counters, spilled milk was left dripping down the cabinets and down to to the floor, little bits of food and spills from what must have accumulated over the week covered all surfaces and in the one little area that he'd cleaned off for his own use, a small stack of papers were messily scattered on it… And right then, something in him snapped.  
  
    "I can't fucking take this anymore!" He boomed, pinching the bridge of his nose out of frustration, "That landlord isn't even a human if she can live like this." he snarled, making his way in a furious rush to the room he shared with Mikasa. He made sure to go quietly since his sister was still sleeping, and managed to make his way to the closet without waking her. Digging through the closet, his hands landed on the large chest that he kept locked in the back of the closet in case Mikasa got her curious four year old hands on them…  
  
    In a rush, Levi pulled the key that he always carried on him out of his pocket and undid the lock on the box, pausing a moment before he opened it. His mother always used to ask him about that chest, always asked him what was in it, why he always kept it locked, why he always took it when he went away for long periods of time, she even went as far as teasing him, asking him if he locked it away because he didn't want Mikasa to see his _'special grown up toys'_ , but he ignored her as he usually did when she was drunk off her ass and talking shit. What was in this box held more interest to him than any _'special toys'_ could ever have…   
  
    With deft hands, Levi undid the box's lock, the box opened, the lid hit the ground with a soft thump and Levi pulled out his most important possessions in the world; his cleaning mask, apron and favorite cleaning solutions. If he was going to live here, it wouldn't be in filth, no matter how much he didn't want to get involved, no matter how much he didn't want to clean this place and have it become something she expected of him, he refused to live in such disgustingness.  
  
    Looking at his watch, Levi took note of the time before looking over to his sleeping sister. It was still early… Good, he figured he'd be able to clean this house to his standards and still have enough time to make Mikasa breakfast when he was done. While others might have thought his time span was a bit… well insane, as Levi pulled on his bright yellow rubber cleaning gloves, there was no doubt in his mind that he could do it because once Levi started cleaning, he was like a machine and no speck of dust or dirt would escape his furious wrath. And this place was about to see his wrath to it's fullest extent.  
  


* * *

  
 **Half an hour later**  
  
    In a panic, Hange came bustling through the door so fast that she almost fell on her face. She couldn't believe what she'd done, she'd gone all the way to the job interview downtown, and forgotten her papers that she'd stayed up all night typing at home! Hange was lucky though, the interviewers saw her enthusiasm for science right away and allowed her the chance to go get her paper and turn it in, as long as she did it by an hour from now. The time limit was pretty good considering that she'd still had another hour before she had to go pick up her brothers, which gave her plenty of time to find the paper and email it over… But she still had to find the paper.  
  
    "Where'd I put it?" She mumbled to herself as she dashed up the stairs, not noticing the lingering smell of waffles and eggs wafting through the house and not noticing at all the mysterious lack of toys in the hall, how could she notice any of that when her mind was laser focused on finding her papers? She burst into her still messy room and ran other printer, but the paper wasn't there, nor was it anywhere else in her room.  
  
    "Okay, think Hange, think." she hummed anxiously flopping down to sit on the edge of her bed, "Where could you have put your papers? You grabbed them from the printer… You came downstairs with them… You started to make Eren and Armin cereal…" Her eyes went wide as she remembered now, "And then you put them on the only clean spot in the kitchen!" she clapped her hands together with a smile, pleased with her good memory as she flew down the steps and hurtled herself into the kitchen at breakneck speed. She went straight to the spot where she'd remembered leaving her papers and, to her horror, she found that they were gone… The kitchen counter was clean, no it wasn't just the kitchen counter, the whole room was so clean that it sparkled, and had she not been in such a time crunch, she might have appreciated it, but right now she needed to find her papers and no matter how much she looked around she couldn't find it.  
  
    "Where is it?" she was asking herself as she around frantically, opening the drawers and cabinets that lined the kitchen to find them neatly organized, but not her papers.  
  
    "Where's what?" A bored voice asked from behind her. Spinning around, Hange now noticed Levi standing near the counter holding a broom and wearing a bored expression.  
  
    "Did you clean up down here?" She asked urgently, hoping he would at least know where her papers had disappeared to.  
  
    "Obviously."  
  
    "The papers that were on the counter, have you seen them? Where are they now?"   
  
    "Probably the trash." Hange's mouth went dry and her eyes went wide in horror as Levi spoke, "This place was disgusting, so I cleaned it. I don't plan on doing it again, that's not my damn job." he grumbled and for moment, Hange wasn't sure how to react. Sadness washed over her for a moment, but rage quickly took it's place.  
  
    "It's _not_ your damn job! And I hope you _don't_ plan on doing this again! This is horrible!" She yelled throwing out her arms in anger, her face scrunched up in frustration behind her glasses as she glared down at him, "Who just trashes other people's things like that? I mean, I would never-"  
  
    "Never what? Never trash anything?" He challenged looking up at her irritably. He was honestly annoyed by her reaction… He'd just cleaned what might have taken a professional cleaning staff days to clean in a few hours and this was her reaction? Did she care about cleanliness so little? How could anyone be so filthy?  
  
    "Wow." Hange scoffed with a scowl, "I knew you were a clean freak from that time you gave me a ride a few weeks ago, but I never would have guessed that you were so rude about it!" she snarled, crossing her arms over her chest in agitation.  
  
    " _I'm_ rude? You leave your crap all over the place, you say you're gonna clean it, but it's been a week and a half and this place is more disgusting than before! Just getting down the hallway without twisting an ankle is a fucking miracle!" he growled, not backing down from her anger in the slightest, because as far as he was concerned, she didn't have any right to be upset, he did all of this hard work for free!  
  
    They glared at each other, both glaring at each other from less than a step away now, neither of them sure how they got that close, and both to frustrated with the other to care.  
  
    "You know, you're the one who insisted on living as if you weren't here, so that's what I'm doing! I'll clean the place when I have the time." Hange yelled down at him, looking him dead in his beady grey eyes.  
  
    "You'll never clean this place, you're fucking nasty!" he yelled back at her. Levi actually had more to say, but he was cut off by something nudging against his side suddenly, catching his off guard.  
  
    "Leave Hange alone!"a small voice was yelling as a flash of brown hair ran into Levi trying to push him back as hard as he could, but the man didn't move no matter how hard Eren pushed. And Levi merely raised a brow at the kid.  
  
    "Eren!" Hange exclaimed in confusion, pulling Eren away from Levi before their argument from a few moments ago got him involved, "Why are you here?" she asked urgently, she was sure she'd dropped him off to preschool with Armin so how could he be here?  
  
    "He didn't feel good." A low deep voice called from the kitchen entrance and Hange and Levi both looked over to see an on guard Mike standing there with Armin in his arms, "Who's this guy? He giving you trouble?" Mike sniffed, looking dead at Levi, to which Levi merely rolled his eyes.  
  
    "No, no, it's fine, really," Hange shook her head offhandedly, now too worried about her brothers to think about Levi or her papers for that matter, " but if Eren wasn't feeling well why'd they call you instead of me?"  
  
    "They couldn't get through to you. My number was still on file as an emergency contact, so they called me, said his stomach hurt. Something about indigestion." he replied flatly, his eyes not leaving Levi as he spoke.   
  
    "Oh no." Hange gasped guiltily, she knew why they had indigestion, she'd been so busy rushing them to eat so that she could get to her job interview that she hadn't even thought about her brother's well being, "This is all my fault." she sighed tiredly, "I'm sorry to bug you Mike, you should get back to work, I can take care of things now." She assured him reaching out to take Armin from him, but Mike didn't hand the small child over as he looked down at his friend's formal clothes and strained face.  
  
    "Were you in a rush for that interview?" he asked flatly, to which Hange hesitantly nodded, "Did it go well?" He asked, handing the toddler over to her now.  
  
    "Well um." she started as Armin happily hugged her around her neck despite how bad his stomach felt, "I sort of had a mishap with my papers." she sighed. There was no way she could retype her paper and send it in time now. Her brother's were sick and it was her fault, she had to stay here and look after them now.  
  
    Levi's temper cooled as he watched Hange and what he assumed to be her boyfriend or something standing in the kitchen entrance with her brothers and as he heard bits of their conversation, he put two and two together. The papers she'd come downstairs fussing over were for a job interview… And he'd trashed them… Though he was still sure he wasn't wrong about cleaning the place, he never meant to trash something that might have affected her livelihood.  
  
    "Tch…" Levi scoffed pushing past the group in the doorway and out of the room.  
  
    Mike frowned as he watched him go, "What's his problem?" he asked Hange.  
  
    "Ah… Who knows?" Hange chuckled tiredly. Running around all day, arguing with him, finding out she got her brothers sick, it was all draining her out and all she wanted to do now was look after her brothers and take a nap, "Hey, thanks for picking them up, but I'm a bit tired so if you want to stay you can, but I can't promise I'll leave out chips and dip if you know what I mean." She smiled tiredly at him.  
  
    "It's fine, besides that guy's still here. You sure it's safe that you sleep while he's here? You guys were fighting and he looks shady." Mike frowned slightly.  
      
    "Him?" Hange chuckled, "If you wait for him to leave, that will be a long time. I guess I forgot to tell you, I let him move in in exchange for paying me rent." Mike's eyes went wide and Hange spoke before he could tell her how reckless she was being as she knew he would, "It's safe, before you say anything. He moved in with his little sister, she'd Mikasa's friend, and we weren't really fighting… We just had a misunderstanding is all… Still getting used to living together is all." she laughed dryly, and even Eren didn't seem convinced.  
  
    "Even if he's Mikasa's brother, he shouldn't yell at you. It's not nice!" Eren pouted crossing his arms, getting Hange's attention "If he yells at you, then he's a bad guy!" Eren's cheeks went red with frustration that went unnoticed by the adults before. he really was upset that his big sister was getting yelled at, even if it was by his best friend's brother.  
  
    "Calm down Eren, you don't feel well, here, let's go put you to lay down huh?" Hange offered, but Eren pulled his hand away looking unimpressed by her offer.  
  
    "No! It's bad that he yelled at you and he said a bad word to you. He's mean and I'm going to tell him!" The little boy yelled storming off.  
  
    "Eren!" Hange called after him, trying to restrain Armin who seemed to want to chase after his brother.  
  
    "I'll get him." Mike offered with a shrug, "I'll bring him to his room, just worry about Armin."  
  
    "Thanks Mike, you're the best." Hange smiled with relief before moving to take Armin upstairs and give him something to ease his tummy ache. Hange knew Mike could calm down Eren. Though Eren though Mike was a yeti when they first met, the boy grew to like Mike quite a bit, so Hange was sure he'd follow through and bring Eren back quickly… What she didn't know however, was that Mike wasn't planning to just bring Eren back.  
  
    This was the first Mike was hearing about Hange having some weird, angry, short guy staying in her house with her brothers. Sure Hange had mentioned to him on the phone that she found a way to get some income, but this was crazy! And the first time Mike even meets the guy he's freaking out at Hange? No, he didn't like this one bit, it didn't matter to him if this guy was Eren's friend's brother or even if this guy had created mustache combs (something Mike was quite appreciative of), no one would yell at Mike's friend and get off easy with it.   
  


* * *

  
**Meanwhile in the driveway**  
  
    Eren stormed out of the living room as his sister called after him and ran in the direction he'd seen Mikasa's brother go. Hange said it was okay that she argued with Mikasa's brother, but no matter what, Eren didn't want Hange to get yelled at. As soon as Eren's eyes landed on the short man who was standing to the side of the driveway near the trashcans, he ran down the front stairs and right up to him.  
  
    "You shouldn't yell at Hange, Mikasa's brother sir!" Eren was yelling, green eyes full of rage as he looked up at Levi. Mildly surprised to have company, Levi's eyes left the trashcans that he'd been looking at and moved over to Eren in mild amusement.  
  
    "Your sister yelled at me too kid." Levi reasoned, slipping on the pair of disposable gloves he'd had in his pockets.  
  
    "Hange only yells when she's really mad, so it's your fault! And you cursed too!" Eren huffed, stomping his foot, "You're a bad guy for yelling at Hange! Hange's doesn't smile happy anymore, so you can't be mean to her not even if you wanna, or you'll be a bad guy!" Levi wasn't sure what the kid meant by 'smile happy' but-  
  
    "I'll be a bad guy if I yell? How do you know I'm not already?" Levi asked, lifting the lid of the trashcan with a scowl. He couldn't believe that he was about to do this. Eren blinked for a moment as he tried to process what Levi had just asked.  
  
    "I know you're not a bad guy because you're nice to Mikasa, but you gotta be nice to Hange too!" came Eren's reasoning after a moment.  
  
    Levi snorted a short laugh out of his nose, "I'll leave Hange alone if you tell her to stop being messy." he scoffed and for a moment, Eren looked at his shoes, brows knit together in uncertainty.  
  
    "But Hange's always messy…." Eren mumbled, "I'll clean up then!" Eren offered, "If I clean up, you don't have to yell at her!" he looked so proud with his answer that Levi snorted a humorless laugh. This kid was dead set on looking out for his sister even though he was so young… Levi could relate to that much.  
  
    "People argue kid," Levi huffed, shuffling through the trash, "that's what people do when they're really different." Levi sighed… He couldn't find what he was looking for.  
  
    "You and Hange are really different?" chestnut hair fell to the side as Eren's head tilted in confusion, "Me and Mikasa are really different, but I still really like her!" Eren exclaimed honestly, "We're different, but I never'd yell at her!"  
  
    "That's different." Levi grumbled.  
  
    "Nuh uh!" Eren pouted, "You guys just aren't trying hard enough to be friends."  
  
    "Look kid, I'm just living here, I don't have to be friends with your sister." Levi sighed as he finally found what he was looking for; a stack of papers all tied up in a plastic bag that seemed to have kept them untouched by the rest of the trash and only a little wrinkled, "And speaking of your sister, give this to her." Levi shimmied the papers from the bag and handed them to the kid who accepted them in confusion  
  
    "What's this?" the small boy asked, but he couldn't make out the words, they were all too big for him to read.  
  
    "Didn't your sister ever tell you not to read other people's stuff?" Levi scoffed and Eren's eyes jumped up from the page, "They're hers, they got mixed up with the trash."  
  
    "That why you guys were fighting?"   
  
    "Just take the papers to her, brat." Levi frowned as he slipped off the gloves and tossed them into the trash, "Hurry up an go so I can go in too." Levi urged the kid. He needed to go in now so he could take a shower and still have time to pick up Mikasa from preschool. Eren nodded before turning to go inside, but before he disappeared around the corner, he turned back to face Levi.  
  
    "Mr. Mikasa's brother?"   
  
    "What now?"   
  
    "I take it back, you're not mean. You and Hange should be friends… She doesn't got a lot of friends, but you can be like me and Mikasa! We're best friends and neither of has a lotta friends either!" Eren beamed and Levi frowned.  
  
    "Thanks for the life advice, but I think I'll pass."   
  
    "Nah, you guys'll be friends." the little boy grinned at him almost knowingly before disappearing around the corner. Levi snorted another dry laugh once the kid was gone… Eren was almost as weird as his older sister.  
  
    As Eren rounded the corner, he nearly yelped as he ran into Mike was was standing on the porch, out of sight to the child or Levi up to that point.  
  
    "What're you doing here uncle Mike?" He asked as Mike held the door open for him.  
  
    "Nothing." Mike hummed, catching a glimpse of the papers in Eren's hands, "What's that?"  
  
    "This?" Eren asked holding up the papers, "Mikasa's brother said they were Hange's and they got put in the trash and told me to give them to her." Mike took the papers and took a good look. This was Hange's submission for the job he'd told her about… He almost wondered how it ended up in the trash in the first place, until he took a look around the house; it was spotless. How Mike hadn't noticed how clean it was until now, he had no idea, but he knew it wasn't Hange's work. Just then it clicked for Mike, the short guy must have cleaned the place and her papers got mixed up in it and that was most likely why they were arguing.  
  
    Mike had originally come out there to set Levi straight, but once he stepped out on the porch and heard the way Levi spoke with Eren, he listened instead and came to the conclusion that the guy might have deserved the benefit of the doubt… And now that he saw that the guy had dug through the trash to get Hange's stuff back, he realized the two arguing must have just been misunderstandings between them.  
  
    Mike handed the papers back to Eren and watched him scuttle off to give them to his sister and just then, Levi came bustling into the house with an irritated expression, but stopped as he saw Mike standing there.  
  
    "What?" Levi grumbled, still irritated from having to dig in the trash.  
  
    "Nothing. Welcome to the household." Mike hummed, sniffing the air as he spoke.  
  
    "Tch, I'm just renting." Levi replied trying to figure out what the taller man was doing with his nose.  
  
    "Mhmm." Mike smirked knowingly. Yeah, this Levi guy wasn't too bad, he didn't smell like a bad person.  
  
    "Ahhhh!!!!" A scream of joy filled the house and both Levi and Mike looked towards the stairs to see Hange standing there with an excited smile that hadn't crossed Hange's face in a long time, "Eren told me you found my papers! Where were they?"   
  
    "Around." Levi sighed, and Mike quirked a brow, wondering why the shorted guy didn't admit that he'd dug through the trash for them, but he said nothing.  
  
    "Well thanks for looking 'around' then." She beamed a lively smile his way and Levi's brows jumped. She was weird, but he had to admit, her smile wasn't half bad at least… She was still a disgusting slob though, "I'm going to email the files over right now before they leave the office! Thanks again Levi!" She smiled cheerily and it made Levi frown… Somehow, he had a feeling that him just correcting his stupid mistake somehow just leaving an opening for her to try and shove her way into his life and he didn't want that at all…  
  
    "I don't need your thanks, just stop leaving your crap all over the place, then you wouldn't have this problem in the first place." Levi nearly snarled, but she was too happy to hear him now.  
  
    "I'll try~!" Hange sung, nearly tripping over herself as she skipped up the stairs.  
  
    A deeply irritated sigh escaped Levi, "She's not going to clean up."   
  
    "Nope." Mike spoke up next to him.  
  
    "Nuh uh." even Eren agreed from the stairs and Levi scowled.  
  
    Mike watched the irritated look on Levi's face and the concern he'd felt about him living her fully melted away. This guy might have been just the kind of person that would help balance out Hange's bad habits, and help her out. Of course Mike wanted to be there for his friend, but he was aware that he might not have been the kind of person that Hange would open up to… But someone like this, who was so different from her, someone who was as strange and stubborn as she was, and willing to push her a bit out of her comfort zone… Well somehow Mike couldn't help but think that this guy might be good for her to be around right now, especially if he was paying to stay here.  
  
    "What?" Levi asked, feeling Mike's eyes on him despite the bangs.  
  
    "Nothing. I'm going now. Good luck." Mike sniffed before turning and leaving... And somehow, Levi felt like he'd really need that luck to keep living here.  
  
    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took longer than usual, I've been busy so I made up for the lateness by making it a monster chapter I guess.


	9. It's a Zoo out there - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hange and Levi end up taking a trip to the zoo with the daycare and get more than they bargained for.

**Three weeks later**  
  
  
    It had officially been a month since Hange let Levi rent out a room from her house and for the most part, things were seemingly starting to settle down for the both of them. Much to Hange's relief, her brothers were more at ease with Mikasa living there and playing with them during the day, which helped them take the blow of their parents passing a little easier. The job Hange applied for rejected her as an intern, but _did_ take her in as an outside source for organizing some of their lab reports, compiling their data and things of the sort. To Hange the job seemed like a miracle, it didn't take up a ton of her time so she had time for her brothers if she managed it well, and gave her a little extra cash in her pocket to keep her head above the financial waters and ease her stress.  
  
    While Hange was doing well in her own endeavors, Levi was doing pretty well on his end too. For all of his hard work at the factory he worked nights at, Levi had gotten a small raise that he was very grateful for since it afforded him the ability to get some new toys for his sister (though he wasn't too pleased to find out that buying toys for her meant he bought toys for all of the kids in the house, but he figured it was fine as long as Mikasa was okay with it). Something else Levi was grateful for was that he was proven wrong about his landlord's ability to keep her promise to stop being such a slob. The week after they got in their fight about keeping the common areas clean, he'd noticed that toys weren't left all over the place as they were before and that even if she did leave the kitchen a little dirty, it was never too much, or significantly messy for long which made living there comfortably a bit easier for him.   
  
    Even though they were both doing well on their own and seemingly in better states of mind, neither of them had actually seen each other in the last three weeks since they argued. Work kept them both busy, and in the time they weren't working, they were taking care of heir siblings to the point where neither of them had any time to think, much less even notice if they'd passed each other in the hallway especially with Levi still going out of his way to keep himself from getting over involved with her… Well that was right up until one day in the middle of spring where Levi and Hange both found themselves on in a situation that neither of them expected.   
  


* * *

  
**That day in the middle of spring**  
  
    Hange peeked over at the unamused look on Levi's face as he drove them all to the daycare that morning. She thought to apologize for having to ask for a ride at the last moment, but something in his body language made her keep the comment to herself and instead turn to the kids that were sitting in the backseat and chat with them; they seemed like more cheerful company.  
  
    "So guys, a field trip to the zoo! It's exciting isn't it?" Hange cheered from the front seat of the car while Eren, Mikasa and Armin all giggled in the backseat.  
  
    "Yeah! Today is going to be so much fun!" Eren replied, face beaming with excitement as he pumped his fists in the air.  
  
    "Yeah." Mikasa smiled faintly next to him where she sat in her booster seat, "You excited too, brother?" Mikasa asked Levi in her usual calm quiet tone.  
  
    "Thrilled." Levi mumbled, his tone making it pretty clear that he wasn't excited in the least bit… A disapproving frown crossed Hange's face as she looked Levi's way at his answer.  
  
    Hange wasn't thrilled to be here either, her mother had actually signed up to be a chaperone for this field trip that some of the students at the daycare were going on, and with her mother no longer around to fulfill that obligation, Hange stepped up and decided to go in her place. By going on this trip, it meant hat Hange had to stay up all night the night before in order to get the lab reports for her job compiled, organized and typed up in advance, but she knew Eren would like the trip so she did it with no problem, yet here Levi was being a grump about the whole thing… Sure she understood not wanting to be here, but he didn't have to be so harsh about it.  
  
    While driving, Levi could practically feel Hange frowning at him, but he chose to ignore it. There were a lot of things Levi did for his sister without complaint, and working as hard as he did was one of those things, so the fact that he was spending today; his one day that he actually had some free time in two weeks, chaperoning a bunch of brats was souring his mood for the day. The only reason he even came was because Mikasa had been looking forward to this trip all year, but this morning the daycare called all of the guardians saying that one of the chaperones was unable to go and that the trip might have to be cancelled if they didn't get someone to take the place of the chaperone who cancelled… Thinking about how excited Mikasa was for this trip, and the fact that the money was non refundable at this point, Levi ended up calling in and volunteering to go on the trip… So here he was driving into a living hell… He might have been doing this for his sister, but he was way too tired to fake excitement over it.  
  
    "Hey, lighten up, the kids are really excited to go, right?" Hange smirked over in his direction while the kids chat in the back of the car, to which Levi only replied with an annoyed grunt. Another thing Levi wasn't too thrilled about was that this trip meant he had to spend more time with his landlord who he'd been successfully dodging for most of the month. She'd been keeping the house clean and he was grateful for that, but he still didn't want to be friends with her or anything, he was too tired for new friends… One thing he was greatful for though, was that the drive wasn't too far though and it didn't take long to get to the daycare; hence he didn't have to spend too much time locked up in the car with his landlord, but his relief was short lived as he saw the annoying care takers and some stuck up looking parents standing outside along with a bunch of rowdy children… And that's when Levi realized that the day was only just getting started.  
  


* * *

  
  
    "Glad to see you made it in time!" One of the caretakers smiled a huge fake smile as Levi stepped out of the car but her fake smile turned into wide eyed shock for a moment as she watched Hange swing open the car door and step out, "Oh! You two carpooled here or something?" She asked with a knowing smile as she looked between Hange and Levi with a suggesting glance.  
  
    "Oh yeah, I missed my bus trying to get Armin to keep his shoes on and Levi here lives close to me so he was nice enough to give me a ride." Hange replied automatically as she wrangled squirmy Armin from the car. Though Hange usually disliked lying, she wasn't stupid, and she knew how rumors spread, if people found out about their living situation, they might start to gossip and the last thing Hange wanted was her brothers hearing any of the stupid drivel people might have said about her sharing her home with Levi and Mikasa.  
  
    "Is that so?" the caretaker's plump face pulled into a bigger amused grin as if she didn't believe Hange for a second, but a cold look from Levi seemed to cool her off.  
  
    "Yeah. That's so, why?" Levi asked, his voice rough as he and Mikasa walked over to join the group.  
      
    "N-nothing, guess it is a small world is all, funny how that happens, hahaha….hah.." The caretaker laughed nervously under his gaze, making a mental note that Levi was not who she planned to idly chat with on the bus ride, "So anyway," the caretaker quickly turned back to Hange, "We'll be leaving soon so as you know we're only taking the four and five year olds so you'll have to leave Armin here with the other care takers." The woman scrunched her nose playfully as she waved at Armin to which Armin only frowned and tuned his face into Hange's shoulder, something he only did to people he didn't like, "He must be shy." the woman chuckled awkwardly, "Ahem, so once you come back from taking Armin in, we'll assign everyone to groups and chaperones okay?" the woman said with a huge fake grin, but Hange only nodded and turned to go inside.  
  
    "Eren, stay here with the others for a moment, I'll be right back." Hange called back over her shoulder and Eren gave her a firm nod before going to talk with Mikasa.   
  
    Levi stood amongst the crown of parents and children looking like a fish out of water as he stood there with the harsh look on his face and his arms folded. All of the children looked up at him with wonder in their eyes before their parents and the caretakers chided them to look away from him. Levi rolled his eyes, ignoring the stares of strangers was special talent of his, but with his crappy mood today, ignoring them was taking more effort than usual on his part. The abnormally hot weather wasn't helping his mood much either, while everyone else standing out here was wearing short sleeves and shorts, the staff had requested before hand that he wore long sleeves and long pants to hide his tattoos, so now not only was he upset, but he was sweaty too… gross.  
  
    Some of the kids parents and the caretakers that had come along on the trip stood a short distance away from Levi and spoke among themselves as they stole nervous glances his way. It was pretty clear that they thought their whispers were quiet enough where he would't hear them, but Levi heard every word. The parents were all murmuring about whether it was safe that they brought him, the fact that they thought he looked scary, why someone so young was even here in the first place… Usual bullshit that he was used to hearing, but the gossip quickly changed topics from him to Hange and her family they whispered about why she looked so sloppy, whether she was a boy or a girl, that they heard her parents died from some doctor one of the parents knew, they went on talking about how they also heard she didn't finish college and that she'd never be able to take care of her brothers and that was enough to make Levi want to lash out at them. People thinking that someone couldn't take care of someone else just because they didn't do the norm… That, to Levi, was a personal offense, and in how foul mood, he almost said something to those shitty gossipers, but before he could lose his temper, the bright green doors of the daycare opened and Hange stepped out with a big smile on her face.  
  
    "Alright, I'm back!" An enthusiastic Hange was calling as she burst out of the colourful daycare doors. The group gathered outside all turned away from their gossip to look at her for a moment and Levi looked at her too as she smiled out to the group, clueless about their petty gossip.   
  
    "Good, good!" one of the gossiping caretakers came up to Hange holding two bright yellow vests out to her that looked just like the ones all of the other chaperones were wearing, "These are for all of the chaperones to wear, you can give one to your chaperone buddy over there!" The woman smiled gesturing to Levi who was standing off to the side giving nasty glares to anyone who looked his way at this point.  
  
    "Oh… We're paired up?" Hange asked, out of mere curiosity.  
  
    "W-well yes, you two were the last to show up so everyone else is already in pairs, so-" the woman trailed off, but something in her tone made it clear to Hange that the woman just didn't want to deal with Levi so she was shoving him off on her… Somehow it irritated Hange that he was being treated like a burden right off the bat when they didn't even seem to be interested in giving him a chance, but she didn't say anything as she took the vests and slipped one on.  
  
    "So which kids are we looking after?" Hange asked looking around at the group. Most of the kids looked pretty calm as they excitedly talked amongst themselves, but then over to the side a group of five kids were off to the side being… well, less than calm. A little boy with a shaved head was digging up bugs and handing them to a little girl to eat, which she did without batting an eye, there was a little boy with a light brown undercut and a long face that was looking at the bug eating pair in disgust and then a short distance away from them there was a little girl girl with a freckled face speaking loudly to a small blonde girl as she looked out at the flowers. As Hange watched those kids, she couldn't help but think they looked energetic, but no sooner had the thought entered her mind, had the caretaker pointed her finger towards those five kids.  
  
    "You'll be looking after them." The caretaker smirked, looking satisfied with handing those kids off to Hange.  
  
    "Them?" Hange asked looking towards the kids again. The little girl eating the bugs was coughing one back up as the boy with the shaved head held his hands out to catch it, the little boy with the long face was laughing at her and calling her an idiot, and the freckled girl who'd been speaking to the small blonde girl had taken the flowers that the other girl had picked and shoved them into her own mouth claiming that the blonde girl was so busy picking flowers that she wasn't listening and her words caused the little girl to burst out on tears… The other chaperones looked over at Hange as they heard which group she'd be responsible for and the amusement on their faces was clear…  
  
    "This group is a little rowdier and a lot of the parents volunteering here are older so we thought you younger people might be able to handle them better. But if you have any troubles with them, just come find me-" the caretaker trailed off before turning and walking away before Hange could say anything.  
  
    "Alright everyone! Let's get on the bus!" The head caretaker was calling from the entrance of the yellow bus, before Hange could get her mind together. All it took for Hange was one look at Levi's face and one look at the group of kids she found out she would be in charge of for Hange to know that this was going to be a long day… But another glance over in Eren and Mikasa's direction as they excitedly lined up for the bus reminded her what she was doing this for. Even if Levi didn't seem to thrilled to be here and even if she was getting the tougher group to handle, Hange had to remember why she was here in the first place.  
  
    "Okay, okay, you've got this Hange, how bad can today turn out?" She asked herself with a weary smile as she boarded the bus with the others.  
  


* * *

  
  
    Halfway through the bus ride, Hange realized that this trip really might not be as bad as she thought it would be. Levi made a big show of looking irritated when she handed him the yellow vest and told him that they'd be in charge of a bunch of kids together, but he said nothing the rest of the way from where he sat next to her, staring out of the window. Hange on the other hand, actually took time to speak with the kids, they might have been energetic, but they were curious and fun, they reminded her of herself when she was young. Though their group got stuck sitting at the back of the bus where it was a little stuffy since the windows wouldn't open back there, the kids didn't seem too bothered and asked her a lot of questions. From questions about her glasses, to her favorite food, to ways to hide their veggies at dinner, they asked it all. While Levi was doing his best to ignore all of the noise,  Hange found the kid's curiosity refreshing and embraced it, chatting merrily back with the kids, while the parents and caretakers upfront looked back at their group with mild amusement and disdain… But the parents and caretakers weren't the only ones peeking back at Hange and Levi, some more familiar faces were doing the same.  
  
    Hange caught Mikasa peeking back at Levi with a worried look in her eyes and it didn't take much for Hange to figure out why. All of Levi's body language was showing how much he didn't want to be here, and the trip hadn't even started yet!  
  
    "Levi?" Hange sighed as the kids spoke amongst themselves, "I think Mikasa is worried that you won't have fun while you're here."  
  
    "I won't." he replied harshly, "But I'm not here to have fun." Hange nodded at his reply, glad that he gave her one at all, a good indicator that he was at least open to talk a bit.  
  
    "I know, but I think if you make the best of it, Mikasa would be happy." Hange offered.  
  
    "Tch." Levi scoffed. What did she know about making Mikasa happy? She'd only known Mikasa for a month and here she was telling him what to do for his sister?   
  
    A cold air passed between the two of them and Hange could feel him shut her out in that moment… She sighed tiredly as she watched the kids in their group talk happily around her. The trip hadn't even started yet, she was supposed to be looking after 7 kids with her chaperone partner and she had a pretty good idea that her 'chaperonage buddy', was going to be the most difficult person on this trip.  
  
    "Okay, kids, we're here!" One of the adults from the front of the bus called, and as if on cue, all of the kid cheered at once. Shrugging, Hange joined in laughing and clapping with the kids, figuring she'd go along with the fun. Levi sat next to her, giving her a dirty look every time her elbow bumped him when she clapped… He was supposed to be helping look after 7 kids with his 'chaperone partner' and as he watched the gleeful look on her face while she clapped along with the kids, he had a feeling that his 'chaperonage buddy' was going to be the most annoying one on this trip.  
  


* * *

  
  
    To some extant, both of them were wrong. As soon as the group of students and chaperones entered the zoo, they were given a map, a time to meet up at the gates and wished good luck with their students before everyone took off in different directions. Levi handed Hange the map and let her take charge of choosing where to go, while he walked behind the group, giving any kid that lagged behind or tried to wander off a stern glare that made their little faces go pale, but kept them from getting lost at the very least… Needless to say, the kids ended up clinging to Hange like glue and avoiding Levi like the plague most of the trip… But it more or less worked for them, everything was going smoothly, Hange found the kids to be fun and they were so busy with her that no one bothered Levi, which was the most he could ask for…  
  
    Despite Levi's foul mood, Hange tried to make the trip as fun as possible picking the things she thought the kids would like the most. The petting zoo was fun for everyone until Eren tried to ride one of the goats, the aviary was a big hit with the kids who mostly tried to act like birds except for Sasha and Connie who plotted on what the birds would taste good with, the snake exhibit also went over well for most of the kids, except for Jean who nearly wet his pants while trying to pretend he wasn't afraid in front of Mikasa, and the lions exhibit proved to be a favorite, though they had to leave pretty quickly once Ymir saw that Historia liked the lions mane a lot and decided that she'd fight the lion and shave his head so that she could impress Historia… Even Levi had a bit of trouble dragging Ymir away once she'd made up her mind, but they managed… Even though the heat from outside was draining and the kids were a little rowdy every now and then, Hange actually found herself enjoying their fascination with everything and had a pretty good time, to the point where time flew so fast, that it was time for lunch before anyone (minus Levi) knew it.  
  


* * *

  
  
      It took awhile to make sure all of the kids washed their hands and could open everything in their lunches, but before long, every one had settled down at the picnic tables that were set up for visitors and had dug into their lunches.  
  
    "Whew." Hange sighed as she plopped down into a seat next to Levi, tossing the cold juice she'd bought around in her hands as she spoke, "That took awhile." she hummed, trying her best to get Levi to lighten up a bit. The whole time they'd been on the trip, Levi'd been grumpy and Hange didn't miss the dejected look on Mikasa's face every time she looked back at him, "So you plan on eating anything?" She asked now, looking down at the empty spot in front of him on the red metal picnic table they sat at.  
  
    "It smells like shit, how can anyone eat here?" he grumbled in reply, his nose wrinkled in disgust as he watched the children digging into their food, totally unaffected by the smell of animal shit and sweaty zoo visitors.  
  
    "Aww, it's part of the experience." Hange smirked, tucking one leg under her bottom to make herself comfortable.  
  
    "Tch, then why aren't you eating?" he challenged looking at the empty space in front of her. Hange didn't reply though, she just let out a small silent chuckle, "Exactly." Levi grunted after a moment.  
  
    Admitting that since her parents had died that she couldn't get herself to eat, well she figured it wasn't something he cared to know, so rather than lying, she chose to stay quiet… Or better yet, change the topic, she peeked over to Levi where he sat with his arms crossed and a deep frown on his baggy eyed face as he stared off at no where in particular and she smirked, "So, you really are a clean freak then, can't eat around a little stink?" she remarked playfully.  
  
    "Better than being a nasty slob." his reply had an edge to it, but Hange didn't pay it much mind as she pressed on.  
  
    "Hey, I'm not a slob, per say, as long as no one moves my things, I know where things are at least. Things like 'order' and 'washing hair' and 'bathing everyday', once you get busy enough that stuff falls on the back burner anyway." she snorted.  
  
    "You don't bathe everyday?" he asked in disgusted disbelief as he leaned away from her. He hadn't actually thought about it before, but every time her saw her she was in a sweat suit, he was now wondering if it was always the same sweatsuit as he stared at her messy hair, stained clothes and slightly oily sheen to her face.  
  
    "Oh relax, I bathe regularly… so long as I don't have a deadline. If I didn't wash I wouldn't be a very good role model for my brothers now would I?" she chuckled, amused by his reaction a bit… He was kind of fun to tease, seemed to be the only time she could et a bit of a rise out of him.  
  
    "Tch, right." he snorted, tugging at the neckline of his shirt as he turned away from her.  
  
    "Too hot?" She asked as she watched him try and cool himself off.  
  
    "Yeah…" He grumbled, tempted to roll up his sleeves, but the staff had requested he'd not show his tattoos since he was around the kids… He thought it was a stupid thing for them to ask, but he was to tired to argue with them and just agreed to wear a damn long sleeved shirt…. Right about now he was wishing he'd fought to be able to wear whatever the hell he wanted to wear.  
  
    "Here, it'll help cool you down." With a light smile, Hange slid the orange juice she'd bought to drink over his way. Confused, Levi looked down at the drink…. Was she just giving this to him? "You plan on drinking it or is staring at it cooling you down enough?" She chuckled at the dumb look on his face, to which he frowned before taking the juice and cracking the top off.  
  
    "Thanks." He mumbled, staring straight ahead, not wanting to make eye contact with her, but there was no response from her and he found himself looking over to figure out why. When he turned, the spot she'd been sitting at was empty and she was further off, moving to sit with Eren and Mikasa. She sat down next to them with a smile on her face as she spoke to them and they spoke animatedly back with her, their excitement clear on their faces… As tired and irritated as he was, as he watched Mikasa's smiling face as she was talking now, he was glad he'd come along, even if the zoo was fucking gross.   
  
    Taking a sip of his drink, Levi checked the clock on the wall. All he had to do was get through a few more hours and then he would finally be able to escape this stinky ass zoo.  
  
-  
    "Is brother having fun?" Mikasa asked Hange from where they sat across from the table Levi was still sitting at.   
  
    "Uhh." Hange paused, not sure how to answer the little girl in any way that might be helpful, "Well he didn't say he's not." Hange offered with a smile, but as they looked over at him, it was pretty clear from the irritated look on his face as he checked the clock, that he might have had more fun taking a dip in a volcano than being here.  
  
    "Oh…" Mikasa replied, hanging her head a bit as she fiddled with the scarf she was wearing. A frown crossed Hange's face as she saw Mikasa's sad expression… This wouldn't do, Hange knew that Levi cared a lot about Mikasa, it was pretty clear to anyone that paid even the slightest bit of attention, so maybe all that Mikasa needed was a bit of reassurance.  
  
    "Here's an idea, why don't you go over and talk with him a bit, maybe that will help." Hange smiled kindly, "Maybe ask him which animal was his favorite to see?" Mikasa's face lightened up a bit at Hange's suggestion.  
  
    "Okay." Mikasa smiled lightly as she got to her feet and walked over to Levi.  
  
    Hange watched from afar as Mikasa approached her brother and hoped for the best, but before she could see how things went, Connie and Jean started yelling, screaming out battle cries and they readied themselves over a fight because apparently Jean called Sasha's hair 'silly'… Hange was so busy trying to get Connie to stop calling Jean horse face and keeping Jean from kicking Connie that she hadn't seen how Levi and Mikasa's conversation went, and by the time she'd calmed everyone down, Miaksa was already sitting next to Eren again… So Hange figured the talk went well… Man was she wrong.  
  


* * *

  
    It wasn't until it was almost time to go that Hange realized just how wrong Levi and Mikasa's talk went.  
  
    "Okay, we have time to see one last place!" Hange called out over the children with a smile. She was honestly pretty happy that the trip was almost over. Having not eaten much or slept well for the past month or so, she got tired pretty easily and trying to not only keep up with the kids, but hiding how tired she was in front of the kids was making her even more tired.  
  
    "Let's go see the elephants!" One of the kids called up.  
  
    "No, the giraffes!" another yelled out… Hange looked around the group, and realized that during the whole trip all of the other kids had asked to go places and visited everywhere they wanted to go… Except for one of the kids… The one that was staring at Eren while he waved his hand wildly, the one with her face tucked into her red scarf.  
  
    "Mikasa," Hange called, "Where do you want to go?" Mikasa's eyes went wide as she everyone turned to look at her.  
  
    "Yeah Mikasa, where do you want to go?" Jean smiled back at her, but Mikasa looked to Eren almost right away.  
  
    "Uhm, I wanna go wherever Eren wants to go." She hummed quietly, leaving Jean pouting off to the side.  
      
    "Huh?" Eren asked looking confused, "But tigers are your favorite right? We didn't see those ones yet." Eren pointed out.  
  
    "Tigers huh?" Hange smiled, "Well then off to the tigers it is!" She cheered and all of the other kids joined in as they started walking into the dense crowd of the zoo. With a frown Hange looked around, she couldn't keep an eye on all 7 of the kids in a crowd this thick, so she asked Levi to watch the back of the group, while she kept an eye on the front.  
  
    As the other kids walked ahead excitedly, Mikasa's eyes drifted back to her brother to see if he looked a little happier, but as she looked back, she caught him rolling his eyes, looking more irritated than before Eren suggested seeing her favorite animal… She quickly turned around, feeling bad for dragging her brother on this trip, when he looked so unhappy being here… She wished she wasn't so much trouble for him… When she spoke to him earlier, he admitted to her that he didn't even like the zoo and he thought it smelled bad… She was sad that she'd brought him somewhere he hated and hoped he wouldn't be mad at her for it.  
-  
  
    Levi tugged at his sleeves as he walked… The tiger exhibit… He was willing to go since it was Mikasa's favorite animal, but he couldn't help roll his eyes at the thought of how ridiculously hot the area near the tigers must have been to match their natural climate. He found himself looking over to Mikasa where she was walking along next to Eren. Levi's eyes fell on the red scarf wrapped around her neck and he sighed… She must have been sweating under that thing, she'd always had sensitive skin too, if she kept that on, he knew she'd break out in a rash under the scarf, it looked dirty too from playing with the animals in the petting zoo, maybe she shouldn't be wearing it right now...  
  
    "Mikasa." Levi called, and right away the little girl spun around to face him as he looked down at her with an outstretched hand, "Give me your scarf." he spoke roughly.  
  
    "W-why?" Mikasa stammered.  
  
    "You can't wear it now." Levi grumbled squinting his eyes as the sun beat down on him.  
  
    "Why not?" Mikasa demanded sounding hurt. Levi's brows rose as he saw how defensive she got, and he decided to let it go for now… If she refused to take it off, he didn't feel like making a scene right now… He'd just buy her some cream in case she really did break out in a rash… He'd have to wash the scarf too, she'd been playing with those animal in the petting zoo too.  
  
    "Fine, I'll take it later." Levi mumbled more to himself than to her, but he missed how Mikasa's eyes went wide in horror as she misunderstood what he meant. While Levi only meant he'd wash the scarf later, she thought he was trying to take her scarf away from her as punishment for making him come to the zoo.  
  
    In a hurry, Mikasa ran forward into the group of kids while Levi was looking away, and in one quick movement, she separated from the rest of the group and went off on her own… Eren, noticing that his friend was suddenly not next to him anymore, looked around in time to see her running off looking upset, and without another thought, he ran after her, also separating from the group… All of which happened in the few seconds that Levi had looked away from the group, and in his annoyed, tired state of mind, he hadn't even noticed the kids slip away into the crowd as he walked towards the tiger exhibit with the rest of the kids.  
  
-  
    It wasn't until arriving at the exhibit that anyone noticed the two missing children as the other kids stood with their faces pressed up to the glass.  
  
    "Mikasa! Come look at the tigers with me!" Jean called out, looking excitedly around to find her, "Huh? Where's Miksasa?" he asked looking confused.  
  
    "What do you mean?" Hange was asking, as she took a quick head count; two kids were missing… No that couldn't be right… She took a count again… Five kids, four of which she'd kept an eye on at the front of the line, but two of the kids that had been walking with Levi were missing; those kids being Eren and Mikasa.   
  
    "Where's Eren and Mikasa." Hange called back, her voice tight with worry, but restrained with the hope that Levi had at the very least known where they were… But the moment she saw him look around, his cool eyes filling quickly with concern, she felt as if the floor had fallen out from under her as panic slammed into her chest like a freight train.  
  
    "They're missing?" She asked slowly, as the kids below her got quiet, sensing the tension that was suddenly in the air, "We have to leave the zoo soon and they're missing?" She asked, her eyes going wide behind her glasses.   
  
    "They were just here." anxiety leaked into Levi's voice as he looked around and noticed his sister and Eren were missing, "They were with you right?" he asked, an edge in his voice as he wondered just how the hell that weirdo lost his sister! Hange's face quickly turned into the personification of rage and disbelief as she watched him try and pin this on her.  
  
    "Levi... I asked you to look after three of the kids and you lost two of them! You lost my brother!" She practically snarled the words as panic set in and she remembered how her brother had a knack for finding trouble. For all Hange knew, Eren had climbed in with the lions and was trying to play with them, "How could you lose them?" She demanded, pacing now, pushing her hair back.  
  
    "I didn't lose my own sister on purpose!" Levi yelled back, equally frustrated and concerned as he looked around.  
  
    "But you _lost_ them!" Hange reminded him, "If you didn't want to be here that's fine but keep an eye on the kids at least!" she boomed closing in on him as she spoke, her anger clear on her face, "I swear, if something happened to my brother, I will _never_ forgive you!" she snarled the words and he glared up at her, a mixture of anxiety and annoyance coursing through him as he did, "Take the kids back to the bus, I'll start looking for Miaksa and Eren." Hange spoke hurriedly as she already started running off before he could protest.  
  
    For a moment, Levi stood there in a daze as he watched her go, his tired brain trying to process everything that happened in the last few moments as he watched Hange run off into the crowd in a panic as the situation really suck in for him… He'd just been asked to take the five kids that were now asking him a flurry of questions back to the bus, because he hadn't been paying attention, he'd lost his landlord's little brother and his own sister might have been off somewhere scared and alone all because he took his eyes off of her for a second…   
  
    Levi's eyes fell down on the kids who swarmed him now, their eyes all full of worry while they asked if Mikasa and Eren were going to be okay as they pulled his arms saying they'd go back to the bus so that he could look for Mikasa… and reality finally got through for him; yeah, this time, he really fucked up.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to do one and two as one big chapter, but I thought it would be ridiculously long, so I'm breaking it up into two pieces.


	10. The Zoo Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so they both messed up, but at least they come out better for it in the end.

**Hange's POV**

   Hange was like a bullet from the barrel of a gun as she ran away from Levi and the others to look for Eren and Mikasa.  
  
    "Eren! Mikasa!" she called out, her hands cupped around her mouth in hopes that either of the kids would hear her desperate calls as she ran down the zoo's paths. People gave her odd looks, stared her way as if she were mad, but she hardly noticed as her eyes scanned the crowded walkways of the zoo. At first she thought to retrace her steps, the kids hadn't been missing long. She knew that they were with the rest of the group at the intersection up the path right before the group headed off the the tigers exhibit, so her first thought was to go back to the intersection in hopes that she'd find them there waiting for her… But as she reached the fork in the path, she didn't see any sign of them.  
  
    "Mikasa! Eren!" She called out again, looking around in hopes that they might emerge from the crowd and run right to her, but she had no such luck… Her eyes scanned around the area as she tried to think of where they might have gone… She noticed a map as she looked around, and Hange realized that the penguin exhibit was nearby… and the penguins were Eren's favorite animal! There was a chance that they were there! Taking off at full speed, Hange looked high and low calling out for the kids at the top of her lungs and ignoring the looks people sent her way as he went, as she made her way to the exhibit with hope in her heart as she approached. Again Hange's heart sank as she approached and saw a ton of little kids with their faces pressed to the glass of the penguin exhibit, but no sign of Eren or Mikasa anywhere… For a moment, panic seized her heart as she realized she had no idea where her brother was in this huge zoo, and she realized that all on her own, she wouldn't be able to find them by herself.  
      
    Her heart hammering in her chest, her breath came fast and shallow as she looked around, her head was spinning under the heat of the sun… She really was exhausted and she knew she shouldn't have been running like this, but she had to find them!  
  
    "Alright, think Hange, think! You didn't get all those scholarships in the past for nothing." she reminded herself as her eyes darted around looking for a clue, any clue of where they might be… And then she saw the sign that read 'Help Area', "That's it!" She clapped her hands together, "I can report them missing and the staff will help." She muttered to herself as she ran for the building with all she had left in her.  
  
    Steps away from the door, Hange could feel her body shutting down on her, black spots dotted her vision, her knees buckled, but she pushed herself forward and threw herself at the doors, entering the room panting. Every eye of the staff turned to look at the haggard 20 something year old that had stumbled in panting like she was about to die.  
  
    "M-my brother," She panted leaning against the doorway doing her best to keep her balance, "He's 4 years old… Brown hair… big green eyes… his name's Eren… Are you getting this?" she asked as she noticed them just staring at her rather than taking notes, but at her question, they scrambled for a sheet of paper and a pen.   
  
    "You were saying, Miss?" One of the staff members asked, as they scribbled down everything she'd just said.  
  
    "He's… H-he's most likely with a little girl… She has big black eyes… shoulder length black hair… her name's…. Mikasa." Hange managed, as the spotting in her vision got worse, her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, her head felt light.  
  
    "Ma'am are you okay?" a concerned face came towards her, one of the staff members reached out to her, but Hange shook her head.  
  
    "Don't worry about me, just… find them." She panted heavily, doubled over now as her knees buckled. Three of the staff members nodded before tearing out the notes sheet and running for the doors, while another staff member ran to the intercom. Hange watched the action around her for a moment, while the noises and action all blended together. They were looking for them, and that was good, but she wasn't going to just sit around and wait for them to find her brothers, she had to go look too. Turning, Hange tried to shake the fatigued heavy feeling from her body, and tried to ignore the black spots that were slowly consuming her vision as she tried to walk, but right as she went to take a step, her knees buckled , the ground looked like it was coming towards her for a moment and then the whole world went black.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
    Hange had no idea how much time had passed before she became conscious again and when she did it was to two sets of eyes staring down at her. The first pair Hange's eyes met were the warm, concerned hazel eyes of a nurse, the next set of eyes that she turned to see were a borderline paranoid set of brown eyes that she recognized as her good friend Moblit's... But why was he here?  
  
    "You're okay!" Moblit cheered, his face splitting into a relieved smile as he saw her eyes flutter open. Without thinking, he flung his arms around her in excitement, nearly choking a very confused Hange as he did so. Behind her glasses, Hange's eyes flashed around the room, the room was blindingly white, it smelt slightly of bleach and antiseptic soaps… The same smell that met Hange when she went to see her parents in the hospital… Flashes of their bloody faces met her mind for a moment, chocking her more than Moblit was.  
  
    "Calm down, she just woke up, you'll have to be a little more gentle." the woman next to Moblit chided as she noted the strained look on Hange's face.  
  
    "Sorry." Moblit frowned sheepishly as he let go of Hange and let her get her bearings.  
  
    Vague memories of being at the zoo came back to her, but no matter how hard she tried to think about it, she couldn't remember Moblit being there before… As if sensing her confusion, Moblit started to explain his sudden arrival to his friend.  
  
    "That short guy with all of the tattoos called Mike saying that you passed out in the zoo and that he needed someone to look after you, but Mike couldn't get out of work so he called me to come get you." She could see the strain on his face as he spoke, and the way his hair was whipped back as if he'd been anxiously passing his fingers through it… she had no doubt he'd dropped everything to get here for her, "Geez Hange, I always knew you were a bit reckless, but you went so hard you passed out?" He joked lightly, his gentle scolding ringing through loud and clear to her, but as soon as she went to apologize for him having to come out here, she suddenly remembered that right before she'd passed out, she'd been reporting Eren and Mikasa as missing.  
  
    "Mikasa and Eren, where are they, are they okay?" She was asking in a hurry as she tried to get to her feet, but the nurse gently took her shoulders and pushed her to sit back down, an uneasy expression on her face the entire time.  
  
    "Calm down Ms. Hange, you passed out a while ago, you're going to have to relax a bit."  
              
    "But my brother!" she insisted almost desperately, her eyes landing on Moblit's worried face to the nurses disapproving one before it sunk in what they'd just said, "…I passed out?" she asked dumbly.  
  
    "Yes, you arrived at the staff room and then passed out shortly after reporting your brother missing, and the staff brought you here. Apparently you have low blood pressure and it seems to me that you might be a bit anemic." The nurse frowned deeply.   
  
    "I see."Hange nodded hurriedly, "Is Eren really okay though?" She asked, her fingers anxiously digging into the side of the chair that she'd been sitting in… She knew very well why she'd passed out now; not eating or sleeping for so long and then attempting to look after 7 kids with an unwilling chaperone partner… well it wasn't exactly a great idea in hindsight, but Eren and Mikasa's well being, that to her, was the most important thing to her right now.  
  
    "Yes, they found Eren and Mikasa." the nurse sighed at Hange's obvious disregard to her own health, "They're out front with Mikasa's guardian and the other chaperone on the trip; Levi Ackerman, is that correct?" The nurse was asking as she checked the sign in sheet.   
  
    "Yes, yes that's right!" Hange let out a sigh of relief as she realized her brother was okay, but she was only a bit relieved to hear they were with Levi; he _did_ lose them in the first place after all, "I can see them right?" Hange's question came immediately, her desperation to see her brother again and confirm that the kids were okay with her own eyes was clear.  
  
    "W-well yes that shouldn't be a problem, but I really think you should rest first, and not overdo it." the nurse started up, but something about the look on Hange's face made it obvious that Hange had no intention on taking it easy, "Fine, I'll get them." The nurse sighed, defeated by Hange's desire to see her guests in the small waiting area… The nurse turned to leave, leaving Hange and Moblit alone in the room for a moment while Hange probed at the small bump that formed on her forehead from when she fell.  
  
    "Hange… I heard about your parents from Mike…" Moblit started suddenly as he looked at his friend, his own face heavy with concern, and Hange's face went dark, her hands falling away from he bump on her face, "If you want someone to talk to about it, I'll listen." he went on, not noticing the subtle change in her expression.  
  
    "There's not much to talk about." she spoke quickly, harshly almost, "They're gone and I'm not, that's all there really is to it, right?" the edge in her voice had Moblit taken aback, but honestly, she only had an edge to her voice because the last thing she felt like talking about after just waking up from passing out, was her parents.  
      
    "I'm just saying, I'm here if you need me, I won't force you to talk about it. You know that." Moblit's voice was small, and he shrunk back a bit at her harshness a moment ago, and as Hange saw that she let out a regretful sigh.  
  
    "I know, but there's really nothing to talk about." she lied. There was a lot to talk about; how tired she was, how nervous she was that she was raising her brothers well in the first place, how scared she was about a sudden change in her finances, how lonely it felt now that her parents, two of the people she loved and respected more than anyone were just; gone. There was a lot that Hange wanted to say, but she couldn't quite get herself to say them, especially not to Moblit… As much as she loved having Moblit as her friend, she knew that there was nothing any of her friends could have said or done to make her feel better, because they had no way of understanding her situation.   
  
    Moblit looked Hange over with a frown… No matter how much she was telling him that she was okay, he could tell from a single glance she wasn't. Her usually bright eyes fell flat, her face looked haggard and exhausted, she was wearing one of her favorite sweat suits that he's seen her wear a thousand times, but it hung loose on her now as she'd lost so much weight… She looked almost small and fragile sitting in the chair right there… Deep in his heart, Moblit really wished he could have protected her right then… But he had no idea how to… He wished he could have said something right then that could have helped her, but he didn't know what words could have possibly helped her in the slightest, and in the end, he just ended up staring at her in a sympathetic silence as Hange sat silently with her head hung and Moblit stood across the room in the corner awkwardly… Until the door swung open.  
  


* * *

  
**In the waiting room**  
      
    Levi had been sitting anxiously in the waiting room with a sniffling Eren and deathly quiet Mikasa who'd been waiting with him to find out just what the hell had happened to his landlord, Hange. Right before Hange passed out, Levi, having just dropped the other kids off at the bus with the rest of the group, had run to the main help desk to report the kids missing, and right as he arrived, he saw an unconscious Hange being fanned by some panicked staff members. Once he'd confirmed that he knew her, they told him they'd be sending her to the medical area and that he should come with them, but since he still had to wait for the kids to be brought back to the help desk and he couldn't leave them alone, he ended up calling the only friend of hers that he'd ever met; Mike. However instead of Mike showing up, some scrawny nervous looking guy named Moblit showed up saying Mike had sent him for Hange and then said scrawny guy had gone tripping over himself to get back to the medic area.   
  
    Levi was regretting calling anyway since not only had this 'Moblit' guy showed panicking more than anyone, but he's showed up so late that the kids had already been found by the staff and were on their way back with them now now… Levi could have just waited for the kids and then gone for Hange himself if he'd known that it would have taken so long for someone to show up and stay with her.   
  
-  
    By the time the kids had shown up, Levi had more of less worn out the soles of his shoes from anxiously pacing the room, so when he saw the staff walk in with an unscathed Eren and Mikasa, he nearly collapsed to his knees… But he didn't do that, instead he made the mistake of going over and demanding what they'd been thinking when they ran away, which made Eren burst into tears admitting that he'd only gone to look after Mikasa and Mikasa looked up at her older brother with hatred in her eyes since he'd made Eren cry… In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have yelled, but he didn't even have time to apologize or anything, since the staff member who'd escorted the kids in then announced that since the kids were back, they should go see if Hange had woken up from passing out yet… Levi could have kicked that staff member in the gut for saying that in front of Eren.   
  
    No sooner had Eren heard that his sister had passed out, the tears he'd been crying before kicked into hyper drive as his face went bright red in panic as he demanded to know what happened to his sister… Levi really wasn't sure what to say since he had no clue what was wrong with Hange and no idea how to comfort children, so instead he just told Eren that she was tired was all, but that she was fine. Eren calmed down a bit at Levi's words, but he'd still practically dragged Levi and Mikasa down to the medic area with a look of fierce determination.  
  
    So that's how Levi ended up sitting in a waiting room with a petrified, puffy faced four year old that was desperately fighting off tears, and his own sister who was only looking at said puffy faced four year old with concern…  
  
    While they waited, Levi's eyes drifted up to the clock on the wall as his foot tapped impatiently on the floor while he confirmed that they'd been waiting here for half an hour and it was making him more anxious. Thoughts tossed around in Levi's head as he remembered that he hated the smell of doctors offices and medical areas, it always reminded him of the hospital waiting rooms he'd been in as a kid when his mom drank too much, or when he broke a rib or three from fighting… The smell was putting him a bit on edge actually… But then the look he saw on Eren's face; the kid looked so dammed resigned as he sat there clearly holding back tears… He remembered making that face as a kid too in doctor's waiting rooms while he wondered if this would be the time his mom had drank too much and was leaving him behind… He didn't like seeing that look on a kid's face... No matter how much Levi didn't want to get involved with Hange and her family, he couldn't get himself to watch this kid who'd made Mikasa so happy suffer all alone…  
  
    "Hey kid, you okay?" Levi asked looking down at him.  
  
    "Yeah…" Eren sniffled, his eyes still fixed straight ahead as he spoke… Levi knew he wasn't though, he could tell.  
      
    "You don't have to lie to me kid." he sighed, why was it that all of the kids around him tried to act so tough when they clearly weren't okay?  
  
    "Is Hange gonna die like mommy and daddy?" Eren asked suddenly, puffy eyes looking earnestly up at him… And Levi didn't know what to say…  
  
    "Uh…" he stammered a moment, trying to think of a single thing he could say to this kid while green eyes bored into him, "I don't think your sister's gonna… die. I think she's just tired, like I said before." Levi managed after a moment and Eren nodded his head for a moment.  
  
    "…Okay…" Eren's eyes cast down, fixed on his dusty sneakers as he thought to himself that he hoped Levi was right… Silence spanned on for a moment longer while Levi anxiously chewed his lip, a bad habit he'd taken up since he'd quit smoking, Eren stared anxiously at his feet and Mikasa stared worriedly at Eren… A thought struck Levi then: What if something was really wrong with that landlord of his? He always saw her bustling around, even today she was busily skipping through the zoo and happily chatting with the kids as if she was a 5 year old herself, was that all some act she was putting on? If she was really sick and something happened to her, what would happen to her brothers? Well no, he knew what would happen to them, they'd end up being taken in by the state and Levi knew from a year and a half of experience that it wasn't a great experience… But it didn't seem like the kids would have had anywhere to go, and it wasn't like he could have taken care of them… then again, it wasn't like he would have had an easy time watching Armin and Eren be taken away from their home after losing all of the family they had he knew a bit about how horrible not having any real family was to some extent… So if she really was sick… then where would that leave Levi?  
  
    "Mr. Ackerman?" the gentle voice of the nurse who'd taken Hange in was calling from the doorway snapped Levi from his thought and had him to his feet right away.  
  
    "Yeah?"  he asked, his nerves far more on end than he would let show.  
  
    "Hange's awake, do you mind coming back?" Levi blinked a moment, subtly confused.  
  
   _"Oh crap, what if she's really sick and she's asking to see me as some weird ass dying request to have me take care of her kids?'_ the thought flittered through his mind, but disappeared quickly as he realized it was a bit of a stretch and that the nurse was waiting for him to reply…   
  
    "Uh… Right." Levi finally replied, his eyes flashing back to the kids for a moment.  
  
    "Don't worry Mr. Ackerman we'll look after your children." The nurse smiled kindly before speaking again, "Hange's straight to the back of the hallway."  
  


* * *

  
  
**In the room again**  
  
    Moblit stood across the room in the corner awkwardly staring down at Hange until the door swung open and in came the heavily inked angry looking guy he'd met when he first arrived at the zoo before he came to the medic area, but it seemed like he didn't even see Moblit as he made his way to Hange.  
  
    Hange's attention was still fixed on the spot on the floor in front of her up until a pair of worn, yet still shiny steel toe boots appeared in the spot she'd been staring at. Brown eyes flashed up, knowing exactly who those boots belonged to. She blinked up as she met a pair of unreadable grey eyes before she scanned the space behind him looking for the children that she'd truly been worried about this whole time, and a deep frown crossed her face when she didn't see them.  
  
    "Where's Eren and Mikasa? Did you find them? Are they okay?" Levi listened to her flurry of questions as he looked down at her… Now that he looked at her, she did kinda look like death; pale, her eyes were sunken back in her head and droopy, her hair had no sheen that didn't stem from grease, and he kinda remembered seeing her wear that sweatsuit she was wearing today on the first night he'd met her at the strip club and had given her a ride home… Now that sweat suit was fitting her loosely.  
  
    "They're in the waiting room." Levi replied after a moment that was far too long for Hange.  
  
    "Why'd you leave them?" she demanded with a frown.  
  
    "Tch, what I do with Mikasa is my business-"  
  
    "Even if you lose her?" Hange interjected with a hard frown before he could continue… And he paused… She kinda had a point, but he wouldn't admit that.  
  
    "I left them in the waiting room because I didn't know what the hell was wrong with you and your brother was asking me if you were dying." he replied honestly, watching as what little color was left in her face drained away.  
  
    "…He asked that?" she asked after a long moment, a petrified look on her face… The last thing Eren needed was to think that she was dying… She knew she messed up by letting her health get to this point now that she'd heard what Levi'd just said.  
  
    "Yeah, I didn't know what your freakin' health status is, so I left Eren behind, since for all I knew you could have been dying, didn't seem like something the kid should have to hear from me." He scowled while he watched Hange's shaky hands flutter aross her forehead a clear look of distress on her face.  
  
    "I'm not _dying_ , okay?" she mumbled after a moment, sounding conflicted.  
  
    "Really? You fucking look like death." Levi commented and Moblit jumped in the corner, ready to defend Hange from Levi's harsh words, until, to his surprise, he heard her snort a laugh.  
  
    "I guess I would huh?" She asked peaking up at him, "I'm not dying though, just low blood pressure and anemia supposedly." she sighed tilting her head tiredly to the side, still feeling a bit lightheaded.  
  
    "It's 'cuz all you eat is cheap ass meals." He scowled down at her while she quirked a brow at him in tired amusement.  
  
    "I didn't know you paid so much attention to us." She couldn't help but tease him.  
  
    "You leave trash all over the kitchen now and then and it's always those damn frozen meal boxes and fast food bags." he replied rolling his eyes down at her, "If that's all you eat, obviously you'll have shitty health, it's not good for anyone, especially not if you're feeding it to Eren and Armin." he couldn't help but bring it up. As much as he didn't involve himself in the lives of his landlord and her family, it didn't mean he didn't notice things. A few times when Levi'd seen Mikasa and Eren playing, he noticed how the little boy would get breathless and tired and how off the color of his skin looked sometimes, something Levi learned when he started taking care of Mikasa came from lack of nutrients… Though as soon as the words left his mouth, it hit him that he might have overstepped his boundaries as a tenant, but surprisingly, she didn't look mad about his accusation as he thought she would… She looked more ashamed than anything.  
  
    "We can't all be homemakers like you, you know." she joked weakly, "It's not like I wouldn't feed them better if I couldn't, but I'm not good at those things, and trust me, it's not like I haven't tried, and besides, it's expensive to cook _real_ food." She sighed, thinking back to the burnt pots she'd ended up having to throw out when she'd practiced cooking while she was home alone… No matter how hard she tried to get the hang of cooking… it just seemed like it wasn't working.  
      
    An idea popped into Levi's mind as he looked down at the clearly burnt out look on his landlord's face… But he tried to push it from his mind right away… It was a good idea honestly, but it was one that he felt would leave more of a hole in the walls that he was trying to keep up between his family and hers… But if she kept eating that shitty food and really did get sick, he'd still be in an awkward position… With a sigh, Levi heard himself saying his idea, "I'll cook for you then." Her eyes lit up so bright, so fast that it shocked him for a second.  
  
    "Really?" she asked, a bright feeling washing over her as she stared up at Levi's now frowning face as he looked at her.  
  
    "Calm down, I'm not doing it for free." he added, oddly uncomfortable with the look she was giving him.  
  
    "I'll take 200 off of your rent right now!" she exclaimed, beaming up at him without a second thought and Levi blinked down at her taken aback by how eager she was… She really must've cared about her brothers' well being… He respected that about her at least.  
  
    "Add it to the contract of my rent." he commented just in case she tried to rip him off, but honestly he didn't really think she would… From what he could tell, she was a lot of things, but not a con-artist.  
  
    "Done!" She smirked up at him, "This is great! I was really worried about Armin and Eren's nutrition," she let out a relieved chuckle as she awkwardly scratched the back of her head, "At least that's one less thing to worry about." she smirked to herself.  
      
    "Hey, dumbass, you do realize your health is a part of the problem too, right?" Levi snarled as he rolled his eyes, "If your brother comes to me crying that he thinks you're going to die again, I'll charge you for that too." he threatened  
  
    "Hey, shortass, I'll take better care of my health, so it won't happen again," she stuck her tongue out at him, her playfulness returning in her state of relief, "And what do you mean you'll charge me?! You're lucky I'm letting you stay you know? who else would take in a short, grumpy, old man?" she joked weakly, slowly getting to her feet now, she was feeling a little better and was just eager to go see Eren, go get Armin from the daycare and go home and try to sleep this day off.  
  
    "Tch, I'm only 22." he grumbled, walking a few steps ahead of her and holding the door open for her without really thinking about it.  
  
    "Really?!" Hange's eyes went wide, "I thought you were at least 30 for sure, I mean all that frowning you do makes you look like a grumpy old man…" she snorted as his frown deepened while she walked through the door, "See!" Hange exclaimed with a chuckle, "You just added five years of age to your face." she smirked playfully and he rolled his eyes.  
  
    "Whatever." he grumbled, refusing to get dragged into this pointless conversation… She had a way of almost dragging him into those every now and then…  
  


* * *

  
  
    Moblit watched as Hange and Levi left the room leaving him behind totally forgotten and in too much shock for him to even care that he'd been forgotten… With hurried hands, Moblit scrambled to fish his phone from his pockets, his eyes wide while he searched for Mike's number in his recently called numbers.  
  
    Dashing out into the hallway in time to see Hange and Levi go down the hall and around the corner, Moblit kept his phone pressed hard to his ear while he trailed behind them to go towards the waiting room. The line rang twice while Moblit walked with heavy, anxious steps before Mike's familiar voice came on the line.  
  
    "Moblit, how's Hange?" Mike was asking right away, but Moblit's mind was in other places while he got to the end of the hall and slowly willed himself to look out and see Hange reunite with Eren and some little girl that was crying her eyes out and sniffling apologies for running away from the group… And Levi stood next to her, comforting the little girl with black hair that matched his own, while Hange stood next to him comforting a crying Eren… And to anyone looking at them… Levi and Hange unknowingly looked like a young couple meeting up with their children.  
  
    "Moblit?" Mike was asking again when Moblit didn't answer the first time.  
  
    "H-Hange's fine, she was just a bit exhausted." Moblit stammered, his mouth feeling a little dry.  
  
    "Okay, good. Why are you whispering?"  
  
    "No reason." Moblit gulped still watching Levi and Hange, "Hey Mike, you met that Levi guy before right?"  
  
    "Short guy who smells like angst? Yeah, why?" Mike replied calmly.  
  
    "Uh, so what's their relationship exactly?" Moblit asked, not so sure if he really wanted the answer.  
  
    "Hmm? They live together that's all I know." Mike hummed, and he might have said something after that, but Moblit didn't hear it because his phone had slipped from his hands and hit the floor…   
  
    "…They live together…?" Moblit mumbled to himself in horrified shock, which seemed to get him some attention.  
  
    "Oh hey Moblit, thanks for coming down to check on me," Hange smiled gently as she picked up a tired looking Eren who was still clinging to her, "I'm okay now though, just going to go home and get some rest, you should get going too, I'm sure you have classes." she smiled the kind smile that he loved to see cross her face every now and then, before his eyes locked onto the harsh look on Levi's face… And he nearly sobbed at the thought of them living together... That had always been his dream and this guy just appeared out of no where and took his hopes away-! But if he made her happy-  
  
    "Yeah, I'll get going then." Moblit stammered with a forced a smile as he walked mechanically to the door leaving Hange and Levi behind.  
  
    They watched him get himself caught once in the door before finally getting out and practically jogging out of sight.   
  
    "Your friends all that weird?" Levi muttered, vaguely remembering that her only other friend of hers that he'd met had sniffed him.  
  
    Hange tilted her head on consideration for a moment, "Well maybe… But you're weird too, clean freak, which is why I have the feeling we'll end up being friends one way or another." she chuckled honestly as she headed for the door.  
  
    "Not likely." Levi frowned, though in all honesty he had a feeling he'd get roped into unwillingly hanging around her more and more…  
  
    "There you go making yourself look old again." she smirked while he scooped a drowsy from crying Mikasa into his arms.  
  
    "Shut up." he scowled and she laughed lightly, doing her best onto to disturb a tired Eren who was half asleep in her own arms.  
  
    "Let's get out of here before you managed to lose the kids again."  
  
    "It was a mistake, I was tired…" he flinched through clenched teeth and Hange immediately regretted her joking jab as she saw the borderline tortured look on his face.  
  
    "Hey," she offered a soothing smile, "Don't worry about it, mistakes happen, and besides you got the kids back while I was down for the count and even comforted Eren for me, all and all I think you've done enough to be forgiven." a gentle smile crossed his face, the kind that people who lived the way Levi had lived didn't get to see too often and it made him a bit uncomfortable as they walked side by side to the exit… Levi stayed quiet unsure of how to react to such genuine forgiveness for his mistakes, no one in his life really gave that to him before as easily as she did.  
  
    "I'm excited for my live in chief to make us our first meal, so let's just get Armin and go to the house." She smirked kindly down at him when he fell quiet with a heavy look on his face... More and more she couldn't help but find him strangely amusing. He was grumpy and standoffish, but he was kind and caring for others in his own way; she was starting to see that now.  
  
    "Yeah…" Levi agreed with a sigh, "I'm never coming to this damn zoo again." he grumbled.

    "Oh yeah, no way in hell." Hange snorted next to him while they both left the zoo with their kids in their arms, and a strange sense of a budding camaraderie. Yeah, whether they knew it or not, this was just the start for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna make this three parts cuz I thought it was kinda long, but nah... It's time to start moving into new parts of the story.


	11. Friendship?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikasa has taken a shine to Hange, as much as Eren has taken a shine to Levi... And they end up having an accidental day out after a small incident.

**About a week after The Zoo disaster**

* * *

  
    All week, Levi had been more standoffish than usual, still ashamed for having lost the kids at the zoo the week before, but Hange on the other hand, had already made it clear hat she forgave him. When she saw him in the hallway, she always said hello, and since he still felt bad for what happened with Eren, he'd give her a hello at least, but he still wasn't too keen on the idea of being overly friendly with her… But he seemed to be the only one who was thinking that, since Mikasa had been hanging around Hange all week, almost non-stop; in the mornings, she insisted that Hange and the others go to school with them so he didn't get to talk with her in the car anymore, Mikasa also ate her meals with the others now, leaving Levi to eat alone in the room, and worst of all, by the end of the day she was so tired out by spending time with the others that she had no time for him...  
  
    So with Mikasa so preoccupied with everyone else but him, just where did that leave Levi? Well, from the way he heard Mikasa's laughter from the yard while she played with the others while Levi sat in the kitchen alone making a chicken salad sandwich; he knew that he was pretty far on the outside.  
  
    With a bitter frown, Levi looked down at the sandwich on his plate… He'd made 5 of them, since he was supposed to cook for everyone according to his deal with Hange, but one of them had the crusts cut off; Mikasa always hated the crusts… But it didn't look like she was going to come in and eat lunch with him anytime soon… A few weeks ago, she would have come running to him with her signature smile and would have talked with him while they ate lunch… Not anymore, now he found himself eating lunch alone these past few days and it was more upsetting than he liked to admit.  
  
    "Hiya mi'sser Mikasa's big brother, Levi sir!" Levi snapped out of his daze and turned Eren, who was now standing in the kitchen with dirty hands, a dusty face, and a stupidly happy smile as he gazed up at the older man.  
  
    "What?" Levi grumbled, sneering down at the dirt on the boy's hands… He better have not tried to touch anything in the kitchen that Levi worked so hard to clean earlier in the week with those dirty hands.  
  
    "Whatcha makin?" Eren asked, wide eyes landing on the plates on the counter behind Levi.  
  
    "… Chicken salad sandwiches." Levi grunted, as Eren licked his lips, eyes still fixed on the sandwiches.  
  
    "That's my favorite!" Eren broke out into a big light hearted grin that caused Levi's frown to deepen. While Levi really would have preferred to spend time with his own sister, it seemed like the only kid around here who had any interest in Levi anymore, was Eren. Whenever Levi cooked, Eren was right there, if Levi so much as sneezed it seemed like Eren was right there with a tissue and a stupid grin… The kid asked him everything, from what his favorite colour was to why Levi could cook so well, and Levi was trying his best to dodge the kid all week, but to no avail and at this point, Levi waiting until the kid got tired of following him, but it didn't seem that this kid would get tired of that anytime soon somehow. Honestly, what was up with this kid? He kept coming back like some weird rash.  
  
    "Your favorite huh? Well good for you." Levi grumbled, turning back to finish cutting the crusts off of Mikasa's sandwich, "If you're going to eat, wash your hands first." He called over his shoulder.  
  
    "Yes sir!" Eren cheered behind him and in seconds, Levi heard the water of the kitchen sink going… At least the kid was a good listener when it came to cleaning, nothing like his slob of an older sister, she _still_ had a habit of making a mess wherever she went in the house, though she wasn't even half as bad as she was when he'd first moved in at least.  
  
    Taking his own sandwich, Levi sat down at the kitchen island and started to eat, figuring that Eren would go outside and eat with everyone else, but as Levi went to take the first bite of his sandwich, he heard the sound of one of the stools scraping against the floor and turned to see Eren struggling to pull the stool out.  
  
    "What are you doing?" Levi asked flatly, his sandwich in his hands forgotten, as he stared down who was Eren pulling at the stool that was bigger than him.  
  
    "I'm *huff* gonna *puff* eat lunch with you." Eren's cheeks puffed as he finally managed to pull the stool out far enough where he could sit on it.  
  
    "Why?" Levi asked, genuinely confused.  
  
    "''Cuz you're cool!" Eren laughed simply, as he climbed up onto the stool, face red from the effort it took to even get up there, and Levi stared at the kid, unsure if he'd heard right.  
  
    "… Cool?" He asked slowly, brows knit in confusion. Sure kids had called him 'cool' before, but they were all kids from his old neighborhood that had seen him fight and had wanted him to teach them, but as far as Levi could tell, he hadn't down anything particularly 'cool' since he moved into this house, so what was this kid talking about?  
  
    "Yeah!" Eren insisted, nodding furiously, "You're really cool! You have a car, and you cook real good too, and the pictures on your arm are awesome!" Eren pointed at the skull and roses tattooed on his right hand and Levi blinked at the pictures on his skin that most kids thought of as scary or funny looking before he looked back up at Eren. The kid was staring at the inked images in childlike awe that only rivaled Mikasa's when she first saw his tattoos.  
  
    "Tsk… you're too easy to impress kid." Levi chuckled flatly as he took a bite of his sandwich.  
  
    "Wassat mean?" Eren blinked cluelessly, head tilted to the side as he tried to process the words, "What's a 'empress'?"  
  
    "Don't worry about it." Levi sighed, "Eat your sandwich." He pushed Eren's stool closer to the counter so that he wouldn't fall down and hurt himself.  
  
    "Right!" Eren smiled again before reaching out and taking as big a bite of his sandwich as he could, "Mmmm!" he squealed in delight, swinging his feet happily as he ate, his face alight with simple pleasure of having good food.  
  
    Levi let out a short laugh through his nose as he looked at the food smeared all over Eren's smiling face from the side of his eye, before handing the kid a napkin and taking a bite of his own sandwich.  
  
    "Mr. Mikasa's big brother Levi sir?" Eren called and Levi cringed in mid bite of his sandwich… The kid always made his name sound so long.  
  
    "Just Levi, is fine." He grumbled around his food.  
  
    "Okay." Eren smiled brightly up at him, glad that he was aloud to call him by his name, Mr. Mikasa's big brother Levi was a mouthful to say, "Levi," Eren started up again, "I have a question."  
  
    "What?" Levi asked, keeping his attention on the sandwich… He wished he added a bit of paprika… That would have made this better…  
  
    "Are you and my sister friends yet?" Eren asked suddenly and all thoughts of paprika left his mind as he looked over to the kid.  
  
    "Why would I want to do that?" His reply came as a grumpy snort, this wasn't the first time Eren was asking him about being friends with Hange and Levi wasn't sure why the kid was so hell bent on the idea, sure Hange said something about them becoming friends, but she'd only said it in passing, but either way Levi couldn't have been less interested.  
  
    "'Cuz you should be her friend!" Eren insisted with a frown, "When she was sick last week, you helped her did, so you should be her friend!" Eren was insisting intensely, his hands reaching out and grabbing at Levi's short sleeved shirt, to which Levi sighed… Now he had mayo from Eren's sandwich all over his shirt.  
  
    "Look kid, this is the second time you asked me about being her friend, why should I do that?" Levi grumbled, removing Eren's hand from his shirt, but the disappointment in the kid's eyes at his words made Levi soften his tone a bit, "I keep telling you, I just live here. I don't have to be friends with Hange."  
  
    "But- but, what if something happens to her again and I can't help her." Eren frowned, his sandwich forgotten as he remembered how scared he was when he heard that Hange had passed out… Levi studied the troubled look on the kid's face and sighed… Levi wanted to stay out of Hange and her kids lives as much as possible still, but seeing a kid make that face… Even he couldn't pretend to be that heartless.  
  
    "Look I don't know how long I'm living here, but if something happens to your sister while I'm here, come find me I'll try and help you out." Levi mumbled, knowing that this would probably turn into a pain in the ass eventually.  
  
    "Thank you!" Eren chirped, leaning from where he was sitting to hug Levi around the waist, to which Levi responded with muted horror as his arms jumped in the air in some vain attempt to avoid the mayo slathered embrace.  
  
    "Alright, it's not a big deal," Levi grumbled, scowling down at the little boy who's arms were still wrapped around him as the kid's still dirty face got dirt all over his shirt, "And don't call me over any little thing." Levi tacked on, arms still lifted shoulder height as the boy went on hugging him, "Alright, okay, get off, brat." Levi grunted, purely out of discomfort to the sudden affection he was getting… Not even Mikasa hugged him, she just wasn't that openly emotional, not like this brat anyway.  
  
     With a laugh, Eren let go of Levi's waist and went back to swinging his feet and eating his sandwich while Levi finished his food, keeping an eye on Eren to make sure hat he didn't find himself to be another victim of the kid's sudden hug attacks.

* * *

  
**Meanwhile**  
  
    Mikasa, Hange and Armin were out in the yard playing in the area where her mother's garden had once been. Armin was curious about the worms in the soil so the three of them had taken up little shovels and had been looking for them to collect in a little bucket that Hange had found in her room.  
  
    The kids were laughing right along with Hange as the breeze ruffled their hair, the sun kissed their faces and the worms wiggled through their muddy fingers, but Mikasa was laughing the most of all, her usually stoic face beaming as she played with them.  
  
    "Brother never let me play in the dirt," She giggled as a worm wriggled in the palm of her hands, "This is fun!" She beamed up at Hange with a simple, gentle kind of smile.  
  
    "Well I'm glad you're having fun." Hange back smiled down at the little girl. Hange noticed that Mikasa had been hanging around Hange more since the zoo when Hange wasn't busy and Hange didn't mind the little girl's company at all. Mikasa might have had a clean freak older brother, but Mikasa had a personality all of her own; an adventurous, curious, loyal one that Hange was starting to see show more and more lately.  
  
    "Wo-wms!" Armin squealed with amusement, clapping his hands as he looked down into the wriggling worms down in the bucket.  
  
    "That's right Armin, worms." Hange smiled, placing her shovel aside and leaning back on the grass as she watched them play. She couldn't remember the last time she'd taken the time to be outside and just breathe like this… It might have been years since she had, she always kept herself so focused n what she was working on whether it was work or school, that she never really took the time to do things like this… Now that she had her brothers to look after, the curiosity and wonder if a child was finding it's way back to her system. The colour of the flowers looked brighter, the sky seemed more wondrous that she'd remembered it being a few months ago, the bugs that crawled through the backyard were interesting to her again, but now as she looked around she realized someone was missing.  
  
    "Where's Eren?" She asked more to herself than to the kids, but Mikasa replied anyway.  
  
    "He went to go eat lunch with Levi." Mikasa mumbled, her smile falling a bit as she replied.  
  
    "Hmm? Eren's with Levi again?" Hange hummed looking back towards the house. She noticed that Eren had taken quite the shine to Levi, to the point where he seemed to have become Levi's little shadow. Eren used to follow her around like that…. Ah but Hange didn't mind so much that Eren was interested in their guest, she was actually more worried that Levi might find it annoying, since Levi wasn't exactly the warm and fuzzy type of guy and it was still pretty clear to Hange that though he wasn't as standoffish as he was when he'd first moved in, he still wasn't too keen on getting close to her or her family, "Well then, should we go eat lunch with them too?" Hange asked getting up off of the ground and dusting off her orange sweatpants.  
  
    "M'kay!" Mikasa smiled up at Hange, brushing off her own hands in the same manner she'd just seen Hange do.  
  
    "Race you!" Hange cheered down at the kids, and right away with an excited laugh, Armin took off giggling towards the house, Mikasa started running shortly after with a smirk and Hange trailed after them just in case one of them tripped on the way in and she needed to help them up, and low and behold, while they were almost at the house, Mikasa tripped and fell face first into the grass.  
  
    "Umf!" Mikasa grunted as she landed, taking in a mouthful of dirt.  
  
    "Uh oh!" Armin cooed running over to Mikasa and peering down worriedly at his friend, "Mikasa fall down." He turned looking up to Hange with a deeply concerned expression.  
  
    "You okay?" Hange asked as she ran to the little girl's side. She had no doubt that Levi would give Hange a piece of her mind if something happened to Mikasa… She'd noticed that he was a bit of an overprotective little man after all.  
  
    "I'm okay." Mikasa replied, spitting a little dirt out to the side and brushing herself off looking totally unbothered by the fall as she moved to get up, but her unworried expression changed dramatically as she looked down at her shoe.  
  
    "What's wrong?" Hange asked looking down, "Did you hurt your ankle or you leg?" She asked hurriedly…. Oh man, Levi really would have a fit if Mikasa was hurt.  
      
    "No…" Mikasa trailed off, her eyes looking sadly down at her shoes, "The buckle on my shoes broke…" The words were heavy from her mouth and somehow Hange got the feeling that this was a big deal to Mikasa.  
  
    "Uhh, okay, maybe Levi could fix them then!" Hange offered and Mikasa looked up at her with hopeful eyes.  
  
    "You think so?" The little girl asked with hopeful eyes… Hange actually had no idea if Levi could fix this or not, but she figured that he was good at everything else, why wouldn't he be good at this?  
  
    "Well, asking him won't hurt." Hange smiled awkwardly and after a moment Mikasa nodded.  
  
    "Yeah… Okay." she hummed still looking sadly down at her shoes before she got up and walked inside before Hange and Armin. Hange watched the online of Mikasa's slumped over form and cringed… Mikasa looked pretty upset about her shoes…. She really hoped Levi could fix them so that Mikasa could cheer up… But he'd be able to fix them right? After all, it seemed like he could do everything else, what trouble would fixing a shoe be for Levi; the domestic god? Yeah, there was no way Levi wouldn't be able to fix it.

* * *

  
      
  
    "I can't fix it." Levi grumbled, looking down at plain black, buckled shoe in his hands and as soon as the words left his mouth, Hange saw the panicked look that crossed Mikasa's face.  
  
    "B-but you _have_ to fix them!" She insisted, black eyes, wide with horror as she pushed the shoe that Levi was handing back to her, right back at him, "Mommy gave me these shoes, you gotta fix them!" She insisted, stomping her feet in place. The dark look that crossed over Levi's face for a moment at his mother being mentioned didn't go unnoticed by Hange, but it was only on his face for a moment before he sighed, his face softening as he looked at his sister's frown.  
  
    "Those aren't good anymore, we'll trash them. I can buy you new shoes though." Levi offered, now that he was cooking, the rent was a bit cheaper for him, so he could afford to buy her some new nicer shoes at the very least, but he could tell right away from the look on Mikasa's face that she wasn't interested.  
  
    "I don't want new shoes!" Mikasa sniffled, I want the shoes mommy gave me." Tears threatened to spill from the girl's eyes, Levi sighed looking troubled since he hated to see her cry, and Hange bit her lip trying not to involve herself with Levi's parenting too much… But watching the two of them look so dejected was killing her.  
  
    "Why not keep the shoes, but get new ones too?" Hange suggested. A pair of grey eyes and a pair of black eyes fell on her as if what she suggested was a new concept entirely, "Ahem, I mean, you don't have to wear the old shoes, but since they seem important to you, you can hold onto them, right?"  
  
    "This is why your house is a mess if these are the ideas floating around in your head…" Levi mumbled, glaring up at her from the stairs, clearly disliking the offer, but Mikasa's face lit up at the idea.  
  
    "That's a good idea!" Mikasa enthused, clapping her hands together excitedly as she looked up at Hange with a faint smile and Levi sighed with irritation. He didn't want Mikasa to hold onto the shoes their shitty mother had given her since it was like holding onto a bad memory, but he could tell that she was eager to keep them, so he'd let her do that for now… He sent a glare Hange's way… He wanted to trash the shoes, but thanks to that Four Eyes great idea, it looked like that wouldn't happen anytime soon…  
  
    "Uhhh, you two have fun then!" Hange laughs awkwardly, trying to back out of the room under and escape the daggers Levi's eyes were sending her way, but right as she turned to leave, she felt a little hand land on her own, "Ehh?" Hange spun around and saw Mikasa standing behind her now, holding tight to her hand while still looking back at Levi.  
  
    "Big brother, can I go buy shoes with Hange?" She asked innocently, and Hange's eyes went wide as she slowly looked over to Levi… He didn't actually look much different than usual, but somehow she could tell from the vacant look in his eyes that Mikasa wanting to go shopping with her instead of him was crushing him on the inside, she could almost see the tumble weeds rolling through his brain when he'd heard that. Her heart kinda went out to him, if Eren flat out rejected her like that, she would've been crushed.  
  
    "W-why don't you go with your brother huh? I'm sure you guys will have a good time!" Hange smiled awkardly down at the girl. Levi despondently looked over to them, hoping that Hange's suggestion would be enough to change Mikasa's mind, but Mikasa only shook her head.  
  
    "But, I wanna go shopping with you." She replied quietly, and Levi felt his soul part from his body… He'd given up his youth to raise this child and she was tossing him aside so quickly for the slob and her kids? He knew the world was cruel from growing up where he did, but he never thought that the world would be so cruel as to take his little sister away in such a horrible way…  
  
    Hange's eyes darted between Mikasa's hopeful eyes and Levi who looked like he was slipping into a coma over where he sat on the stairs and she tried to come up with a quick solution, "T-then why don't we go together?" Hange blurted in a last act of desperation, "We'll all go, me, Levi, Eren, Armin, doesn't that sound fun?" She asked hoping Mikasa took the bait.  
  
    "M'kay." Mikasa smiled, "I'll get ready." Mikasa called as she ran back to her and her brother's room to get ready to go, while Hange let out a sigh before looking over to Levi, who was still looking like he'd just been slapped in the face.  
  
    "I'm going to go bring the car around." Levi managed, getting to his feet and walking heavily to the door. Hange watched him go, noting the way he slumped a bit as he walked for the door, she then turned to watch Mikasa who was practically skipping up the stairs with a happy little smile on her face and Hange sighed… She had a feeling this little outing might end up being a bit awkward.

* * *

  
  
**An hour later**  
  
    Just as Hange thought, this whole trip out was pretty awkward. They'd driven downtown to go to some of the nicer shopping areas, and while the kids sat in the back playing and laughing all Hange could do was peek over at Levi's mildly horrified expression during the whole ride. Once they'd arrived at a nice shoe store, Hange had barely gotten Armin out of his seat and put him on the ground to walk before Mikasa had grabbed onto her hand and dragged her happily towards the store without so much as looking back at her brother, but Hange looked back, and she did so in time to see Levi's otherwise unaffected appearance falter as his knees buckled and he leaned against the car for a brief moment before Eren and Armin came up to him looking worried… A quick look down at Mikasa's direction made it pretty clear that she hadn't even noticed her brother's dismay…. Oh boy.  
  
    Shoe shopping had pretty much gone as just as Levi dreaded to imagine it would go, Mikasa ran around the shoe store trying on all sorts of different things and smiling while she showed Hange all the shoes she liked, while Levi sat glumly in the corner of the store with Armin and Eren who seemed quite fine with being here. Armin was happily sitting on Levi's lap, tracing his fingers over the patterns on Levi's skin, while Eren sat next to him asking Levi a flurry of questions, while they sat under the fluorescent lights of the shoe store.  
  
    Levi might have been Mikasa's guardian, but he couldn't ignore the fact that since they'd come to live with Hange and her family, Mikasa's mood had improved so dramatically, and the childish side to her that she'd always hidden so as not to bother him, she was showing openly to Hange… He was a bit jealous that Hange got to see a side of his little sister that he never did, but he was happy that Mikasa was happy… And it worried him that she was so happy living here. Levi didn't particularly dislike Hange, or Eren, or Armin, he didn't dislike the house, or the yard or the amazingly safe neighborhood, he didn't dislike that Hange let him clean the house so long as he didn't trash anything important, he didn't dislike the fact that he got full control over the kitchen; his favorite spot in the house… What he disliked was the fact that everything about the house was too convenient, his landlord was too nice to him, and Levi had learned a long time ago that anytime a situation came up where he thought he might have gotten something good in his life, it would be taken away from him. Now as he sat watching Mikasa beaming up at Hange, he couldn't help but worry about how Mikasa would react when the place that she was growing to be so happy at would be taken away from her, because nothing this nice ever lasted….  
  
    

  
**Two hours later**  
  
    Shoe shopping had ended with Mikasa buying a pair of sneakers with light up bottoms that she liked, but as they left the store with Mikasa holding Hange's hand rather than her brother's, Hange couldn't help but notice the way Eren was looking worriedly up at Levi while the man didn't even seem to notice the worried look on his own face…  Was he worried about Mikasa spending so little time with him? Was he jealous? Would it cause problems in the house? She couldn't tell, but either way, she wanted to clear the air before it turned into a problem, so she did the only thing she could think to do; she suggested fixing it over food.  
  
    Levi rejected the idea of going to get ice cream with the kids right off the bat, but with some pleads from the kids, he changed his tune pretty quickly and went as an unwilling participant to their little ice cream run. He stayed quiet the whole walk there, Hange didn't try to make him talk as they all walked down the sidewalk, and then their destination came to view. It was a cute little building in the middle of the downtown city street that looked like it had come straight out of a fairy tale;  a small cream coloured building with a little sign sitting outside and a peach coloured awning at the front of the building… It looked like something out of a kids book to Levi, it didn't look like something that would actually exist in the world.  
      
    " _This_ is an ice cream shop?" Levi was asking, looking very confused as Hange held the door open for the kids who skipped excitedly through the door, "Looks like it belongs in a freakin kids book." He mumbled and Hange playfully rolled her eyes at his remark.  
  
    "Don't you know better than to judge a book by it's cover? They have great stuff here!" She insisted, and he gave her a doubtful look before going in after the kids… And he was kind of shocked by what he saw… Though the inside did look like it came straight out of a children's book set in Paris, the smell was what caught his attention. The warm aromas of baked goods that were stacked in glass cases, mixed with the sweet smell of cream and sugar from the ice cream that was displayed, and a quick look at everything they had out made it pretty clear to Levi that this place was the real deal.  
  
    "Where the hell am I?" He asked, his tone somewhere between grumpy and awestruck and Hange laughed at his torn expression.  
  
    "Cafe Sina." A deeper voice called out, catching Levi off guard. Levi turned and saw a face he hadn't seen in awhile, a mustached face with thick light brown bangs. Levi cringed at the thought of one of those hairs from Mike's face falling into the food.  
  
    "You wear a hairnet or something?" Levi asked with a scowl.  
  
    Mike let out a laugh through his nose, "I don't cook. Just serve. Hello Levi." Mike smirked.  
  
    "Don't pay him any mind Mike, he's a bit of a clean freak is all. We were just dropping by for some ice cream." She smiled, leaning over on the counter her nose brushing the cold glass of the ice cream case as she peered in to look down at the flavors, "Oooh, I see the strawberry and cream crunch flavor is back!" She smiled while Mike nodded.  
  
    "I want triple chocolate!" Eren was yelling, while Levi pretty much ignored the excitement around him and zoned out looking at all of the baked goods lining the shelves… This stuff all looked amazing, and he knew it because when it came to baking and things of the like, he was very particular about the quality of how things came out… Growing up in the neighborhood he grew up in, the most of a baked good he'd ever seen being sold was greasy, wrapped in logo covered plastic and sold in a corner market, so when he started baking he thought he was the best at it, but seeing the stuff in here he was floored by how much it surpassed even his own skills with technique alone.  
  
    "He okay over there?" Mike asked Hange as they watched Levi looking around the bakery with eyes alight in mild wonder.  
  
    "He likes baking and stuff, since he moved in, the oven has been getting a real work out." Hange laughed lightly, "I guess he's impressed by the things you guys are selling." She shrugged as she looked over the flavors.  
  
    "He cooks a lot for you guys?" Mike asked, a raised eyebrow hidden by his thick bangs.  
  
    "Yeah, I can't cook, obviously, so I asked him to do it. I took the fee off of his rent, so it's fair." She smirked, tapping her finger against the ice cream case, "I'll get a triple chocolate for Eren as usual, I'll share my strawberry with Armin… You want anything Levi?" She called over her shoulder, but he merely shook his head as he kept his eyes on the baked goods in the case, so Hange turned to Mikasa, "What would you like Mikasa?" She asked with a smile and watched Mikasa fidget with the scarf around her neck under Hange's smile.  
  
    "If brother's not getting anything, I'm okay." Mikasa said shyly, but her eyes stayed fixed on the chocolate chip ice cream in the case.  
  
    "One chocolate chip for Levi then." Hange winked down to the girl and Levi spun around confused as to why she was ordering him anything, until he saw the smile on Mikasa's face as Hange turned to place the order and figured out what Hange was doing… He watched the messy haired woman place the order with a smile on her face as she spoke with Mike and he realized… Hange wasn't that bad at taking care of kids… Hell, she was better than he was when he first started off, but as he watched her talk with Mike, he couldn't help but be a little curious as to why, even though Levi had only been living here a month and a half, he'd only seen Mike actually visit her once… What kind of shitty boyfriend was he? Levi wondered that to himself for a moment before going to stand with everyone else so that he could make sure Mikasa didn't drop her ice cream cone while they found somewhere to sit.  
  
    The ice cream was served quickly and in moments, everyone was outside eating ice cream taking up both of the benches outside of the small store. Eren and Mikasa sat on one bench a short distance away from Levi who was leaning as far away from Hange as physically possible, and Hange who had Armin on her lap as she shared her ice cream with him.  
  
    "Ahhh, this is the best time of year for ice cream!" Hange cheered taking in a deep breath of the fresh spring air.  
  
    "Hmm…" Levi grunted disinterestedly as he watched the cars pass them by on the street before them, Hange smirked, readying herself to say something, but then Armin shifted in her lap, reaching out for the ice cream, grunting in protest of her feeding him so slowly, but his clumsy little hands ended up knocking the ice cream to the ground which sent him into tears.  
  
    "Oh!" Hange squeaked, flustered by all of the sudden action. Her first thought was to reach for the ice cream, but as she did, Armin cried louder in her arms, flustering her even more as he tried to squirm out of her arms and she struggled to keep him from sliding off of her lap. The whole situation was fazed her for a moment as she tried to get everything back under control and as passerby's frowned over at her, mumbling under their breaths that she couldn't control her kid, that she was too young for a kid, and all sorts of crazy things…  and Levi frowned as he watched he struggle with Armin, obviously ignoring all of the shit people were mumbling as they walked past her. He sent a dark look to the people who glanced over at her, pissed off that she was doing her best and they were just judging her without even knowing her situation, it happened to him all of the times and he hated it… And the more he watched her struggle, the less he could take it.  
  
    "Here." Levi sighed reaching over and lifting Armin from her arms, "You were holding him at a weird angle." He scowled, bouncing the kid on his shoulder like an old pro, while Hange stared at him in awe.  
  
    "How are you so good at this stuff?" She sighed, "I always think I'm doing okay, but at moments like this I just kinda…" She trailed off with a frown, her eyes fixed on the ice cream that dropped to the ground before she looked back over to Armin who'd calmed down already in Levi's arms, "I'm not good when the kids get unpredictable, I panic." She snorted a miserable laugh and Levi looked at her from the side of his eye, but said nothing… This was another one of those moments where he thought if he said something, the stand he was taking against being friendly with her might falter…  
  
    "You're not doing too bad if Mikasa likes you." His comment was almost bitter.  
  
    "Mikasa?" Hange asked, "Oh! You mean because she's been hanging around me? Nah, I think she's just a bit curious about Eren's older sister, you know? Even when she hangs around me, she usually is telling me how great her big brother is." Hange chuckled, "I can see why though, you take great care of her… You saw how Eren and Armin were doing before you moved in and started cooking and stuff. The house was a disaster."  She frowned, "I have to hurry up and get better at the stuff…" She sighed heavily, as if the world was on her shoulders…  
  
    "Tch, I've got four years of practice on you." Levi let out a short jab of a bitter laugh as he bounced the kid in his arms "You just got two kids shoved into your care a month ago, right? Who told you you'd have all of the answers? Not knowing everything comes with the territory." He spoke simply, his voice holding no empathy or any emotion at all, as he stared straight ahead again, but his words meant something to Hange.  
          
    "Are you encouraging me right now?" She asked, blinking in wonder.  
  
    "No. Just saying." Levi grumbled, "But you shouldn't let Eren get too friendly with me, he keeps hanging around." Levi grunted.  
  
    "Sorry, I thought he might bother you, I planned on telling him to give you some space." She hummed with a frown, she was glad Eren liked Levi so much, since the little boy needed someone to look up to especially after the devastating loss of their parents.  
  
    "It's not about bothering me or not, but I have a three month contract to live here, I'm just a tenant, if your kid starts thinking of me as a part of the house or Mikasa starts to like the set up here too much, it'll be as pain in the as-" He cut himself off before he cursed as he realized he had a toddler in his arms, "I mean it won't be good when I gotta leave. It's better to keep a distance." He amended, keeping his eyes fixed on the passing cars, so he missed the stunned look that crossed Hange's face. She hadn't actually thought about that, they'd lost their parents and now that Eren and Armin seemed to like Mikasa and Levi living there so much, it would be another hard blow to them if they just left so suddenly…  
  
    "Well, even if at the end of three months you want to leave, that doesn't mean you won't visit right?" Hange asked, with a troubled smile, and he looked over at her, confused.  
  
    "Visit? Why would I do that?"  
  
    "Eren really likes having Mikasa over and the kids like you so, I don't mind if you visit, you're not a bad guy or anything. Besides, I already told you I have a feeling we'll end up being friends." She smirked over at him, but he was too shocked by what she'd just said to even roll his eyes as he usually would have done when she mentioned being friends… He didn't think she'd bother having anything to do with them once they moved out, her saying that she'd like them to still visit caught him off guard and he didn't know what to say.  
  
    "Tch… Whatever, take your kid." He grumbled, getting up from the bench and handing her Armin, "I'll get napkins for that mess you made." He sneered down the the ice cream that had splattered all over their shoes when it fell and she grinned up at him.  
  
    "Please and thank you!" She sang, bopping Armin on the nose as she did, and Levi rolled his eyes again as he went back into the bakery/ ice cream shop to get the napkins, feeling conflicted about his living situation and his weirdo landlord that kept saying they were going to be friends.  
  
    "Change your mind about that ice cream?" Mike was asking almost as soon as Levi stepped into the air-conditioned building.  
  
    "No… Napkins." Levi replied calmly as he went to gather some from near the register.  
  
    "Hmm… Hange's making a mess again. I'm not shocked." The taller man chuckled, "You two getting along okay?" Mike asked, with a smirk, "Seems like she wants to be your friend."  
  
    "I don't know why…" Levi grumbled, still pulling napkins from the napkin dispenser.  
  
    "Heh… She's like that, some people she just wants to be friends with. Guess you're one of the lucky few." Mike sniffed, nonchalantly leaning on the counter as he spoke. Mike was hoping that they'd become friends, the desperate look on her face that she had the night he'd babysat for her bothered him because Mike knew back then that he couldn't do anything for his own friend, but since Levi moved in, she seemed less troubled at least… Levi was a good influence on her, it was no wonder why she wanted to be his friend, and Mike hoped they'd be friends too, but the short guy was so grumpy, Mike thought them becoming friends might be harder said than done without any outside help.  
  
    "Tch… Lucky me." Levi mumbled under his breath and Mike laughed again.  
  
    "Word of advice; don't fight it. Just be her friend, it's easier."  
  
    "Tch, that's shitty advice." Levi replied, turning around to face the man.  
  
    "It's true, once Hange thinks you'll be friends; you will be… You'll start ending up in situations where you have to hang around her, and the next thing you know you're friends. Just be her friend now." Mike hummed, as he started wiping down the counter and Levi frowned… Why was everyone so insistent on them becoming friends? Geez, how many times would he have to say he wasn't interested?  
  
    But, no sooner had Mike said that, had Mikasa and Eren come skipping inside, faces both covered in ice cream and smiles on their faces.  
  
    "Levi! I finished my ice cream!" Mikasa cheered holding up her cup to show him.  
      
    "Good job." Levi flashed her a quick grin and her smile went wider. He was glad that she was speaking with him again at least… Was all it took for her to talk to him again? Just for him to hang around everyone else right along with her? Damn… Sounded like a pain...  
  
    "Thanks! Can we all go out together again? It was fun! I like being with you _and_ Hange!" Mikasa beamed and Levi frowned, instinctively turning to face Mike who was giving Levi a knowing grin. Levi frowned deeper… Him and Mikasa hanging out with Hange's family more than they needed too... He still was against it... But since Hange didn't mind Mikasa coming to visit even after they moved out, he figured it wouldn't be too bad if he hung around her to make Mikasa happy... Besides, Hange wasn't as annoying as he thought she'd be when they first met.

    Just then, Hange strolled into the ice cream shop holding Armin in her arms still with a big grin on her face as she tickled his stomach and the eyes of everyone in the room turned to her, before the hopeful eyes of Eren and Mikasa paired with the knowing gaze of Mike fell on Levi as they waited for his answer.

   "So can we all go out again?" Mikasa asked Levi with a smile, and Hange blinked as she picked up on the conversation... Levi sighed...

    "Yeah, why not?" He grumbled, and while Eren and Mikasa high-fived, and Hange smirked at hearing that Levi was at least warming up to her enough to agree to hang out all together, Mike stood in the background with a knowing smirk... He was glad the little angry guy was at least open to hanging around Hange, but that wasn't _being friends_ yet. Mike knew they'd end up being friends, but he had a feeling that on their own, they'd take too long doing it... Yup, he decided it right then, every now and then, he decided he'd drop by and give them a little push. They'd thank him later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The budding friendships <3 This took so long, I edited this like twice...


	12. Friendly Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some surprise visitors come over, and cause a little accidental upset, that Levi somehow ends up cleaning up.

     
    Moblit's eyes were fixed on the paper he was supposed to be doing for class… This was due tomorrow… And it was important… But something else was nagging on the back of his mind: Hange.  
  
    "Ugh!" Moblit exclaimed suddenly, it might have startled his roommate, but he was used to Moblit's occasional frustrated outbursts.  
  
    "What's wrong with you?" Mike was asking cooly as he pulled a beer from the fridge as he looked over to his flustered roommate.  
  
    "Ugh… It's just that, I can't concentrate," Moblit mumbled massaging his temples with his fingers, "I keep thinking about Hange, I haven't seen her since two weeks ago, and she wasn't looking to great back then…" Moblit frowned as he thought back to the tired look on his friends face when he saw her back at the zoo, "And that guy living with her, I'm not sure if that's a great idea, especially since her brothers live there." Moblit's brows pulled together in concern as he tried to convince himself that he really was just concerned and not jealous at all.  
  
    "Hmm? Levi? He's fine, the kids like him, and Hange looks like she's doing better since he moved in. Apparently the guy likes cleaning and stuff, made her life easier." Mike shrugged sitting down next to Moblit and taking a sip from his ice cold drink, totally missing the stunned look of horror that crossed Moblit's face at Mike's words.  
  
    "You went to see Hange? Without me?" Moblit asked, his jaw dropping in the shock missing out on a chance at seeing Hange, but Mike shook his head.  
  
    "Nah, they came to my job a few days ago. They were buying the kids ice cream." Mike replied, flipping on the television, with every intention of relaxing for the rest of the night after a long day of work, but from the way Moblit was leaping off of the couch now with a look of determination on his face, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to get his night of relaxation.  
  
    "W-we should go visit them!" Moblit declared suddenly, shoving his books away in a rush.  
  
    "Now?" Mike asked, glancing down at his beer.  
  
    "Yes! What better time to visit than now?!" Moblit laughed tensely as he ran back to his room to get his jacket. Mike watched Moblit buzzing around and sighed as he realized that he was getting dragged into this one way or another, besides when Moblit was like this it was better not to leave him alone.  
  
    "Oh well… Guess going to visit them wouldn't hurt…" Mike hummed as he got to his feet and scratched his chin, "Hmm… Maybe this is a good chance to give them a push…" He pondered as he pulled out his phone to inform Hange that they were dropping by.  


* * *

  
**On the other side of town**  
  
    Oluo, Petra and her roommate Nanaba, all sat around Petra's television, glumly flipping through channels, and finding nothing worth watching.  
  
    "Geez… There's nothing on." Oluo whines tossing his head back, "Didn't we used to have fun on Fridays? What happened to that? Why are we just sitting around here?" Oluo's whining went on as Petra sighed.  
  
    "Who knows, it was more fun when Levi was around, we could go play with Mikasa or force him to be social, but now he's living on the other side of town." Petra slumped into Oluo with a heavy sigh, "I miss when he was right down the street, now we hardly ever see him or Mikasa." She pouted as Oluo leaned his head on hers.  
  
    A light laugh came from Nanaba at the sight of Petra and Oluo lumped together on the couch, grumbling over the absence of their friend, "Well it's not like your friend is dead right? Just go visit." Came Nanaba's suggestion with a shrug, yanking the remote out from Petra's hand and flipping through channels, but Petra hardly noticed the absence of the remote in her hand, as a look of enlightenment crossed her face.  
  
    "That's a good idea!" The words came straight from Petra's mind to Oluo's mouth.  
  
    "My thought exactly!" Petra cheered getting to her feet and whipped her phone out of her pocket, "Get ready to go Oluo, I'll call Gunther and Eld and then let Levi know we're coming over." Petra smiled to herself as Oluo scrambled to his feet to find his ever elusive car keys , "He's going to be so happy to see us." Petra smiled dreamily as she started dialing her other friends numbers. Why hadn't she thought of this before?  


* * *

  
**At Hange's house**  
  
    "What'cha you cooking?" Eren was asking as he tried to peek over the countertop to see what Levi was doing.  
  
    "Spaghetti. and meatballs." Levi replied, stirring the thick homemade tomato sauce. At first Eren's constant hanging around creeped Levi out, but he was kind of used to it now. The kid was rarely overwhelming anymore, and if Eren hung around, that usually meant Mikasa wasn't far behind, so that was a win for Levi.  
  
    "Brother makes the best spaghetti." Mikasa commented, not to brag, but because he just did.  
  
    "Cool!" Eren cheered, looking up to Levi again with a hopeful expression, "Can I help?" He asked, eyes wide with wonder, but before Levi could reply, another voice spoke up.  
  
    "Let Levi cook, Eren, I'm sure he has to concentrate." Hange called over, not looking up from the papers in her hand as she chewed on her pen cap from where she sat at the kitchen island. As busy as Hange was right now, she took what Levi said a few days ago to heart. Though she hadn't thought about it until he'd mentioned it at the ice cream shop, Levi, was only obligated to stay here for three months, and then she was on her own in this house again. She decided that she'd let Eren and Armin hang around Levi, but not as much as before, and under her supervision, so that she could make sure that they didn't get too attached… But having to supervise her brothers meant that she had to bring her work down to the kitchen to keep an eye on the kids.  
  
    Eren's face slipped into a frown as he looked over to his sister, "Okay… I'll go play then." He sighed before running back off to the living room with Mikasa. Levi watched as the kids all ran off to the living room to play as he went on stirring the pot, but he said nothing. He actually didn't mind if Eren wanted to help, cooking is a good life skill, the earlier Eren learned the better, but he wouldn't go up against Hange when it came to raising her brothers.  
  
    He went on seasoning the sauce, and Hange went on reading, both of them seemingly absorbed in their own activities in silence, until Levi spoke up.  
  
    "Why work down here? Your papers might get something spilled on them." He warned, throwing a few basil leaves into the sauce.  
  
    "Gotta keep an eye on the kids." She muttered, still chewing on her pen cap.  
  
    "Tch… I'm down here, you can just go finish your work." He offered, but Hange was so caught up in reading over the migratory patterns of some sea creatures, to realize that he was actually offering to help her out.  
  
    "It's fine, I can multitask." She insisted, scratching her head furiously with her pen cap before absentmindedly moving to put the pen cap back in her mouth. The pen hardly touched her lip when all of a sudden her wrist was snatched away from her face and she tore her gaze from her paper work in shock in time to see Levi stretched out across the counter, his hand holding her arm in a vice grip and his face scowling down at her in disgust.  
  
    " _Don't_ put that back in your mouth." He hissed, sending a cold glare at her as she stared over at him wide eyed before she looked back down at the pen cap that was covered in dead skin cells from unwashed hair. He'd moved so fast, the spoon he'd been stirring the pot with was still stirring even in his absence.  
  
    "Pfft… Did you really dive across here just to stop me from putting my pen in my mouth?" She chuckled as he let go of her wrist and stood up straight.  He was standing a good meter or so away from her a moment ago, just how quick was he to have dove across the counter and grabbed her arm as quickly as he'd just done?  
  
    "Tsk.. It's dirty. You wear glasses and you still can't see when you're about to put something gross in your mouth?" He grumbled, scowling down at the dirty pen cap, before moving back to the stove to continue stirring the pot, "Dirty Four Eyes…" He muttered under his breath.  
  
    "Hah!" Hange snorted placing her pen aside and tucking her legs under her, "Did you just call me 'Four Eyes'?" She laughed so hard she almost slipped from her seat, "Are _you_ one of the four years olds in this house? I don't know the last time I heard someone call me that!" She smacked the counter with her hand as she burst into a fit of laughter and Levi frowned.  
  
    "It's not a lie, you're a dirty Four Eyes…" He grumbled, but his comeback made her laugh even harder, and his frown went even deeper… No one ever laughed at him like that, he turned back to stirring the pot since cooking made way more sense to him than she did, and she went on laughing at how unexpected his reaction was… Was he being shy?  
  
    Hange was finally pulling herself together enough to ask him that, but right then, her phone rang, and shortly after so did his and they both picked up at the same time.  
  
    "What is it?" Levi called into his phone.  
      
    "Hello~!" Hange sang into hers, the remains of her laughter still carrying into her greeting.  
  
    "… You guys are coming over now?" Levi was asking, his hand pausing from stirring.  
  
    "Oh, you wanna visit?" Hange hummed into her phone.  
  
    "… You're already on your way? Then why'd you bother asking? Tsk, fine, see you when you get here." He grumbled into his phone.  
  
    "No, it's fine, it's been awhile since you came over." Hange laughed lightly into her phone.  
  
    "Yeah, bye." They both spoke in unison as they ended their calls.  
  
    "Some people I know are coming over. I'll make sure they stay in my room." Levi announced calmly over his shoulder as he cut the heat under the sauce.  
      
    "Mike and Moblit  are coming over too, so if that makes you uncomfortable staying in your room is fine, but you don't have to keep them in your room, this is your place as much as mine." She spoke offhandedly, scribbling down something in her notes again.  
  
    "Hmm." Levi hummed unsure how else he could reply… She really had always treated him like this was his house as much as hers. She never really got on him too much about anything (probably because he did most of the cleaning around the house), but he was way more comfortable here than he thought he might have been hen he first moved in.  
  
    "Still… If they get in your way, feel free to kick them out." He mumbled, pouring the sauce over the meatballs, glad that he'd made extra now.  
  
    "Pfft, was that a joke?" She chuckled, sliding her glasses up her nice as she looked up from her notes. His flat tone didn't indicate that he was joking and with his back turned it was even harder to tell, but somehow she knew he was… It was the first time he ever joked with her, she didn't know he was even capable of joking, especially at her.  
  
    Levi smirked ever so slightly to himself as he went on cooking… He actually _was_ joking… Not too many people caught on to his crude sense of humor… He was kinda shocked that she did, shocked… but impressed.  
      
    "Well since we're having company I guess I should go tell Eren that people are coming over, want me to tell Mikasa too?" She asked as she got to her feet.  
  
    "If you don't mind." Levi called back over his shoulder as he dumped the pasta into the water that had finally started boiling.  
  
    "Okay then." Hange hummed, strolling out of the room and leaving her books spread out on the kitchen island, she was going to have to get back to it anyway, she may as well have left the pages open, it was way more convenient.  
  
-  
  
    No sooner had Hange informed the kids of their unexpected guests, had the doorbell rang, "Coming!" Hange called out, darting to the door like an overly excited puppy. It had been awhile since she'd casually hung out with her friends, and if she was being honest, she missed her late nights with Moblit in the lab at their school, and the days spent playing video games with Mike in his and Moblit's shared apartment. She never disliked her life of taking care of her brothers, but being thrust so quickly from being a carefree student on the path to getting her dream job, to being more or less a parent _did_ take a toll on her mentally.  
  
    She swung the door open with every expectation of just seeing Mike and Moblit, but as she opened the door, she saw Petra, Moblit, Eld, Gunther, Oluo, Mike, and a smaller figure at the back whose face she couldn't make out.  
  
    "Sorry for dropping by so suddenly, didn't know that you were expecting company." Moblit laughed awkwardly in the crowd of people standing at the door.  
  
    "Ah! No, no! It's fine, everyone, come on in!" She smiled brightly, standing to the side of the door so everyone could easily enter. The crowd strolled into her house, everyone looking around for different reasons; Hange's friends to make sure that she wasn't being so messy that she scared off her tenant, and Levi's friends to make sure he wasn't being so anal that he got himself kicked out, and to both groups surprise, they found that the place wasn't in too bad shape. It was still disorganized here and there, but the major clutter was eliminated, and the smell of cleaning products hung pleasantly in the air… Right along with the heavenly smell of garlic bread and Levi's spaghetti and meatballs.  
  
    "Wow, Hange, it smells great in here, I didn't know you could cook." Moblit gushed, face flushing at the idea of being able to potentially try some of Hange's hand cooked food.  
  
    "Me?" Hange chuckled as she guided everyone towards the living room, "Nah, I can't cook, Levi was making dinner." She explained casually, but no sooner had the words left her mouth, did Levi's friends, stop in their tracks.  
  
    " _Levi's_ cooking?" Levi's friends asked in perfect unison, and with shared shock clear on their faces.  
  
    "Y-yeah why? It's not like he's bad at it or anything." Hange blinked at their shocked faces without a clue as to why they were looking at her like that.  
  
    "Levi _never_ cooks for anyone but Mikasa!" Petra explained hurriedly, "I mean like never, I asked him to cook for me one time and he told me… Well there are kids here so I can't actually repeat what he told me, but he basically said no!" She pouted, crossing her arms and sending a jealous glance over to Hange.  
  
    "Maybe he likes you, Hange." Gunther asked, nudging Eld with his elbow, as he remembered their little bet that Levi would fall for her and Eld rolled his eyes.  
  
    "Nah, it's just that I can't cook, so I took money off of his rent for him to do it." Hange shrugged.  
  
    "Sounds reasonable." Eld smirked back to a now defeated looking Gunther.  
  
    "Well, here's the living room." Hange waved her hand out to the room they'd just arrived at, "Mike and Moblit, I know you guys know your way around, but to everyone else, there's the t.v and umm… There's the couch, so… make yourself comfortable." She pointed around awkwardly. She'd never had complete strangers over like this, and Levi was busy in the kitchen, so she figured she'd at least attempt at being hospitable… But as everyone moved to settle in on the couch, Hange noticed an unexpectedly familiar face that up to now had been hanging around the back of the crowd.  
  
    "Nanaba?" Hange squinted, fixing her glasses on her face as she looked over to the smaller person whose face lit up upon seeing Hange now.  
  
    "Oh my god, Hange? How did I not notice you?" Nanaba laughed, going right up to Hange and pulling her into a big hug without hesitation. Hange laughed giddily into her smaller friend's shoulder.  
  
    "You two know each other?" Petra asked looking between the two, very confused.  
  
    "Yeah!" Nanaba laughed, "Hange and I were good friends in high school, we just sort of lost touch after we graduated though." Nanaba laughed, pulling away from Hange's embrace a bit.  
  
    "How are you here?" Hange chuckled, looking over her old friend. Nanaba really looked the same, strong build, short hair, general air of kick-assery… Yup, all the same.  
  
    "Petra and Oluo started talking about how they wanted to visit their friend, but Oluo lost his car keys, so I somehow ended up driving them here and getting dragged along." Nanaba chuckled to Hange, while Oluo scowled in the background.  
  
    "I didn't _lose_ the keys… Just misplaced them." Oluo mumbled, but was more or less ignored.  
  
     "Wow, it's been so long." Hange smiled again, "Oh! And, you remember Mike right? He was dropping by with another friend of mine, weird little reunion right?" Hange asked as she looked over to Mike, but Mike was dead silent as he looked over at Nanaba. Mike had gone to a different high school than Hange and Nanaba, but he'd met Nanaba before… And the first thought he had when he met Nanaba back then was that he'd met the most adorable person he'd ever seen, and that he wanted to know this person better… But he never made a move to befriend Nanaba, he was too nervous and the next thing he knew, Nanaba became a 'if only', and faded to the back of his memory…  But now here Nanaba was popping up in front of him again, now that Mike was a grown man, that had men and women of the like practically _flinging_ themselves at him, all of which he could now cooly reject… But in Nanaba's presence, just like when he was a high schooler, he forgot his own name.  
  
    "Bathroom." Mike managed after a long awkward moment, and he saw himself out of the room, leaving everyone else looking a bit weirded out.  
  
    "I'm sure he's fine." Hange shrugged, sitting down with Nanaba on the couch along with the others, but before she could even _start_ talking, someone else entered the room.  
  
    "Dinner's done." Came Levi's voice, and everyone now looked up to see him standing in the doorway, the kids trailing after him as they ran to the living room to greet the familiar faces in the room.  
  
    Eren and Armin got some money slipped to them from Moblit, Mikasa got some candy from Levi's friends, and Hange looked content on yapping with the short blonde person sitting on the couch all day… It was as if no one heard what Levi's just said… And that annoyed him.  
  
    "I said, Dinner's done… Unless no one wants to eat." He grumbled, and everyone's heads snapped over to him.  
  
    "You made enough for everyone?" Oluo asked, face alight with anticipation.  
  
    "It was food for the week… Then everyone decided to show up, so I guess I don't have a choice." Levi sighed, "So if you're eating hurry up, before I change my mind." He grumbled, stalking off to the dining room, and with the delicious smell of the food on the air, none of them wanting to miss out on the food, they followed close behind him.  
  
    A few minutes later, everyone was sitting around the table and eating and laughing, catching up. Nanaba sat with Hange, and the rest of her friends sat nearby, while Petra and Oluo claimed the seats closest to Levi, the kids sat in the middle leaving Eld and Gunther to sit on some fold out chairs from the basement just so that they could fit at the table. For the most part, Levi's friends stuck together, all fighting for his attention that they'd missed over the last few weeks, and Hange's friends did the same to her.  
  
    It was loud around the table, but the guests were still a bit weary of each other, and the good feeling around the table had a bit of an anxious undertone. Mike didn't miss that Levi's friends, when they weren't talking to Levi, would cut their eyes at Hange, before whispering amongst themselves, and Levi's friends didn't miss the hesitant frowns that a distrusting look that Moblit was sending Levi's way. Both groups of friends avoided doing anything to cause any trouble for the people living here, but the subtle tension in the air was obvious to everyone but the kids.  
  
    "So Hange, how's living with Levi? Has he tried to dunk you in antiseptics yet, or are you guys not that friendly?" Gunther chuckled deciding to cross the social boundaries set between the two groups of people, as he peered over to his short, dark haired friend who was now giving him a dirty look, but Hange only laughed.  
  
    "Hah! I don't think he sees us as friendly at all, so no." She chuckled cheerily, cheeks flushed from the good atmosphere of the room.  
  
    "We're not friendly, but pull another gross stunt like earlier and you'll get dumped in antiseptics anyway." Levi muttered into his cup, while Hange snorted a laugh.  
  
    "Stunt like earlier?" Petra was asking now, looking between Hange and Levi… Did they have some inside joke or something? Just how well were they getting along? She could tell they got along okay since he was actually talking to her… But Petra was still skeptical about Hange. After all, Petra knew about Hange working with Kenny, and even if it was as Levi told them before, and it was just a one time thing and that they should leave her alone about it… Petra didn't care, because just as the rest of Levi's friends knew, Kenny was a very hurtful man to Levi and if 'Hange' ended up being the person who brought Kenny back into Levi's life, Petra could never forgive her.  
  
    "So, Hange, what is it that you do for a living?" Oluo asked catching on his girlfriend's concerned expression as she looked between Hange and Levi. He was careful about the question since the last time he'd mentioned her dancing at Kenny's club, Hange almost skinned him alive, but Oluo, like Petra, was very concerned about Levi's well being when it came to this strange landlord, but he kept.  
  
    "I organize and compile research for a lab. All really interesting stuff about marine life, from migratory patterns to mating rituals." She spoke between bites of food, before placing her fork aside, with a spark in her eyes.  
  
    "Uh oh…" Mike hummed and Oluo gave the mustached man a confused look, prompting Mike to explain, "Once Hange starts talking about science-y stuff, she won't stop." He sighed.  
  
    "What?" Hange chuckled, "That's not true, he asked what I do, so he must have had _some_ interest, and I mean if I'm going to answer the question about what I do I should be thorough right?" She looked around the room for support, but everyone gave her a silent hesitant look that she totally mistook for them waiting for her to talk again, "So anyway, what was I saying? Ah yes! Migratory patterns!" She laughed starting up again.  
  
    … Hange talked about science for a whole 35 minutes, Most of the people around the table started to fall asleep on themselves, Petra pinched Oluo's arm under the table for getting her started in the first place, while Levi took the kids upstairs to get ready for bed, saving them and himself from her lecture, leaving everyone else to listen to his talkative landlord.  
  
    "Man, you haven't changed a bit!" Nanaba laughed at some point through Hange's crash lecture, which was now involving shaky drawings and charts on napkins.  
      
    "What do you mean?" Hange blinked, now snapped out of her information sharing daze.  
  
    "I mean once you have an interest in something, you learn everything about it and can share all of the information on the drop of a hat." Nanaba chuckled, "It's impressive actually."  
  
    "And kinda annoying..." Oluo mumbled under his breath, but Hange ignored him.  
  
    "Well thanks." Hange smiled at Nanaba, "I guess sometimes I get a little too into it though." She admitted with an awkward laugh.  
  
    "Oh, it's fine, I think I got used to it back in high school." Nanaba laughed again turning to look at the rest of the group, "Hange was like a super genius in high school, so I used to come over here to do homework with her now and then, but she'd get so caught up in cross researching the science stuff, that she'd forget the rest of her homework, she was a genius but we almost failed English." Nanaba and Hange shared a laugh.  
  
    "Sounds like Hange." Moblit laughed lightly.  
  
    "Right?" Nanaba agreed, "It was fine though, I used to like visiting here. Her mom brought us the best snacks, and she was always so nice to me when I visited, her dad was so cool too." Nanaba nodded, and Hange went stiff in her seat at the mention of her parents, but Nanaba didn't notice, "Hey, are they here? I'd like to just say hi and see if they remember me." Nanaba smiled innocently and Hange totally locked up, Mike and Moblit looked somberly down…  
  
    Levi's friends even noticed the sudden change in mood, but Nanaba still seemed a bit jolly from running into an old friend again and didn't catch the change of atmosphere.  
  
    "Uh… My parents…" Hange started, the comfy sweat shirt she'd been wearing suddenly felt unbearably hot, "My parents… They - umm," She gave Nanaba a strained smile, squirming in her chair a bit… She had to tell Nanaba that her parents were gone… But saying the words out loud suddenly felt like it would make it too real. Sure Hange knew her parents were gone from her life now, but she'd been so busy taking care of her brothers and making sure that they were okay, that she put her own mourning on the back burner… Now things were settling down a bit, and facing the harsh reality of her parents being gone, was now staring her in the face… And she still wasn't able to face it head on…. Her throat felt tight as she squeezed her eyes shut and a memory of her parents smiling faces flashed into her mind, and in one rough and sudden movement she was on her feet.  
  
    "I'm sorry, I just remembered, I had some work I had to finish!" Hange chuckled awkwardly, fixing her glasses on her face so the no one could see how her eyes moist with tears threatening to fall, "It's really urgent, but it was great seeing everyone, hopefully we can do this again!" She laughed loudly, and scrambled out of the room, slamming her hip into her chair on the way out, but not letting it stop her as she ran… Everyone watched her go in confused silence for a moment.  
      
    "Well, that was weird." Eld chuckled taking a sip of his drink and looking around to his friends who nodded in agreement.  
  
    "Did I say something wrong?" Nanaba asked, face heavy with concern, as she noticed the grim looks on Mike's and Moblit's faces.  
  
    Mike sighed… He'd rather not have to share this information in front of everyone, but at the same time, he didn't want anyone to ask about her parents again and make that hurt look on Hange's face come back, it was the least he could do as her friend.  
  
    "They passed away two months ago. A car accident." Mike sighed heavily, and the whole mood of the room changed as soon as the words left his mouth.  
  
    "Oh no, I can't believe I brought that up." Nanaba groaned, feeling a bit sick at the news…. It was never Nanaba's intention to say something hurtful to Hange, it was too hard for Nanaba to even imagine what Hange must have been going through, especially knowing that Hange didn't have any other family to turn to.  
  
    Oluo's mouth went dry, Eld and Gunther looked at one another and Petra blinked in shock…. Oluo felt bad now for asking her about why she was working for Kenny… He understood it now…  Seemed like she'd just gotten her two brothers dumped on her, so she must have needed money pretty badly… Which was probably why she was okay with Levi staying there in exchange for rent and if Levi knew her situation, Levi's friends easily understood now why Levi even entertained the thought of living at this house. As standoffish as Levi might have come off as, they knew that he always had a hard time turning his back on people, especially ones whose situations he could relate to, and since Levi needed somewhere to stay too, it just seemed to be good for both of them.  
      
    A heavy air came over the room as Levi's friends realized that they might have misjudged Hange right off the bat, and Hange's friends were still dealing with the sorrow over seeing their friend suffer and having no idea of what to do to make her feel better… The lively mood that the room had a few moments ago, now fell entirely flat as they silently ate through the rest of their meals now, figuring that it was best to give her some space,after all, what could they have even said to her?

* * *

  
**A little later**  
  
    Levi had gone straight to the kitchen after putting the kids to bed. The thought of the pots and pans sitting in the kitchen that he'd left out in his hurry to serve the food was bothering him, so he'd gone straight there to clean it up. He'd scrubbed all of the pans and wiped down most of the counter tops, but as he went to wipe down the kitchen island, he let out an annoyed grunt… Hange left her work all over the counter… The one thing he'd promised not to do was mess with her work, but that didn't mean it was okay for her to leave it all over the place either!  
  
    Levi headed back to the dinning room to tell Hange to clean up her shit before it got ruined by spilled sauce or his cleaning products, but before he could get out of the kitchen, Mike walked into the kitchen with his dirty dishes.  
  
    "So you were hiding out back here." Mike sighed heavily as he moved to put his dishes in the dishwasher.  
  
    "The kitchen was a mess." Levi grumbled, watching to make sure that Mike put his dishes away correctly, "Still is." Levi scowled over to Hange's mess on the counter.  
  
    "She left that?" Mike was asking, following Levi's gaze to the stack of papers… Mike already knew when Hange left the room that she had no intention of working, but this just confirmed it… She must have been upstairs crying her eyes out all alone, and even if he went up there, he was sure that she'd turn him away, and he never knew what to do when she insisted that she was fine and he _knew_ that she wasn't.  
  
    "Yeah…" Levi grumbled irritably, his gaze still on the papers… And as Mike watched the little guy, a light bulb went off in his head. He said before that he wanted to help Levi and Hange become better friends, and with Hange in a bad mood and Levi more likely to understand the strain of having to raise a kid alone for whatever reason, Mike kinda figured Levi would be a good candidate of someone to talk to her right now.  
      
    "She went upstairs to work. Funny since she left all her papers down here." Mike chuckled, gauging Levi's reaction.  
  
    "Tch…" Levi scowled making a big show of looking agitated, but he carefully gathered her papers making sure he didn't knock anything out of the 'order' that she'd left it in, "Can't even finish cleaning with this in the way." He grumbled, "I'll take it to her." He sighed, it wasn't like he had much of a choice if he wanted to finish cleaning.  
  
    "Good idea." Mike smirked to himself as he watched Levi leave the room. At a time like this, someone like Levi probably, was the best person for her to have around right now, and if Mike was right about them, this might just be a great big step in them finally getting closer to becoming friends.

* * *

  
  
    With books in hand, Levi made his way to Hange's room, being sure to knock on her door lightly so that the kids didn't wake up, but there was no reply.  
  
    "…Dammit…. Did she fall asleep? What am I supposed to do with this shit then?" He looked down at the books in his arms, he had no interest in reading this crap, and he wouldn't have it cluttering up his room… Maybe he could just leave it by her door? No, seeing a stack of books just sitting in the hallway would bother him, it was too messy. He was still standing outside of her room, awkwardly holding her books as he tried to figure out what the hell he was going to do with them, when he heard the sound of glass shattering and something falling from down the hallway from the room that he'd never seen anyone go into.  
  
    The books hit the ground almost as soon as he'd heard the sound, his first thought being that one of the kids got out of bed and wandered in there and hurt themselves. His hand was turning the knob before he could think to do anything but make sure the kids are okay, but as he turned the knob and entered the dark room, he didn't see any kids at all… He saw the outline of a person sitting on the floor with their back turned to him.  
  
    "Oops, guess that made a lot of noise." Hange chuckled, but her laugh was off, her voice was wavering, "You can go, I'll clean it up." She laughed again, her hands hurriedly picking at the glass… He might not have known her long, but he could tell that something was very wrong with her, and as he strained his eyes to look at her in the dark room he noticed the drops of dark liquid dropping from her hands and down her forearms.  
  
    "Are you bleeding?" He asked, instinctively flipping on the lights to see, and her wild reaction stunned him for a moment.  
  
    "No!" She yelled suddenly, her hands flying to her face, "Why'd you turn on the light, I already said I was fine!" She insisted, but her voice was still shaky despite her harsh tone, and with the lights on, he could see just how torn up her hands had gotten from the shattered glass of a broken picture frame.  
  
    "Don't be stupid." He growled, walking to stand in front of her and glaring down at her torn up hands, the blood from her hands was dripping down onto the cream carpet, he knew that would be a bitch to get out and knew he'd end up doing it, "You're bleeding all over the place, and it's making a mess." He snarled, his eyes fixed on her hands still.  
  
    "I asked you to leave, Levi!" She yelled, ducking her head so that he couldn't see her face, while her voice took on an even harsher edge, "You might live here, but that doesn't mean you own the place! You can't just go all over just because you want to, you shouldn't even be in here! I asked you to leave so go!" She snapped out, hating that anyone was seeing her like this.  
  
    "Hange, you're bleeding all over the place and you just want me to go? I even _I'm_ not that much of an asshole." He snapped back at her. He'd never heard her yell before, and now was the first and only time he'd ever bothered to help her and this was when she started yelling? What the hell?  
  
    "Try to be! Just pretend you're that big of a jerk for today and leave me the hell alone!" She cried, desperate to get him as far away from her as possible, even if it did mean that their chances of being friends would wither down to nothing… When she was a mess like this, she didn't want anyone to see her like that, especially not her tenant.  
  
    "You can't clean up the glass with your hands like that." Levi snarled, his voice low and calculated, "I won't ask you about what's going on, but you can't even wrap your hands up like this. Then Eren's going to come whining at me that he thinks you're dying again, it's a pain in the ass, just let me help you clean your fucking wounds and I'll leave you alone." He snapped back at her and she sighed, irritably…  
  
    "Fine…" She sighed, her eyes fixed on the floor, "For Eren."  
  
    "I have a first aid kit in my room. Stay here and try not to bleed all over everything." He grumbled, turning to leave the room, leaving her to sit on the floor alone for a moment. She let out a shaky breath as she watched him go… Why did he have to see her like this? She hated it… People seeing her at her low points, all she wanted right now was to be alone… Her eyes landed on the broken picture frame again, past the glass and down at the smiling faces of her parents, that was now covered in her blood… She just wanted to look at the picture, and now she'd made a mess of everything… Her friends were downstairs, and she knew she'd probably made everyone feel awkward with her sudden departure… She'd ruined dinner too… Now she'd just snapped a Levi… She probably ruined her chances of being friends with him… It seemed like one by one she was plucking out good things in her life with her own inabilities, what was next? Was she going to mess up taking care of her brothers? Mess up her job? There weren't too many things left for her to lose, but in the mood she was in right now, it felt like anything was up for the taking and that everything would be taken...  
  
    "Back." Levi was calling from the doorway again, but she swore he'd just left… Had he run back to the room? He pulled the door shut behind him and her eyes went wide in alarm.  
  
    "Why are you shutting that door?" She demanded in a hurry.  
  
    "Tch, Mikasa heard the yelling, she thought we were fighting and was upset, but she went back to sleep. I'm not risking waking her up again if you decide to blow up at me again."  
  
    "Right…" Hange replied still giving him a hesitant look from where she sat on the floor as he walked over to her.  
  
    "Are you trying to say that you think I'd try something to a slob like you?" Levi was asking as he sat down next to her on the floor, giving her an incredulous look and Hange relaxed a bit, he never looked at her with any kind of interest now that she thought about it, him trying anything was a far fetched idea, especially since he didn't even want to be her friend.  
  
    "No." She mumbled, now a bit more assured as she watched him open up the first aid kit.  
  
    "Hand." He held out his hand expectantly, and she slowly reached hers out to his as she watched him ready some peroxide pads. He didn't say anything, but he could feel her hands shaking… Just what the hell happened while he was in the kitchen for her to be like this all of a sudden?  
  
    "This is gonna suck." She cringed as she watched the wipes to clean her wounds come closer to her hands.  
  
    "Should have thought of that before you let your hands get all fucked up." His words came harshly as she hissed at the stinging of the wipes against the wounds on her hands, but even though his tone was rough, she was surprised by how gentle he was being as he meticulously cleaned the wounds with a serious expression on his face.  
  
    She watched silently as he cleaned her first hand, carefully applied ointment and wrapped each of her fingers in gauze like a pro, "Wow, you should have been a doctor." She commented, throughly impressed, looking over her first neatly wrapped hand.  
  
    "Yeah right." Levi snorted, holding his hand out for her second hand.  
  
    "Thanks for-" She paused, still feeling a bit awkward after how she'd acted a little while ago, "Thanks for wrapping my hands, sorry I was so snappy a little while ago." She cringed as the peroxide hit her wounds again. He peeked up at her a second, a sarcastic remark on the tip of his tongue, until he saw the tear streaks on her puffy face… He hadn't noticed before, but was the reason she was ducking her head earlier because she was crying? Why was she crying?  
  
    "It's fine." He cleared his throat, turning to keep his eyes fixed on cleaning her hands. He hesitated to ask this next question, but he figured he should have just in case it would turn into a problem later on, "Was it something my friends said? Why you're up here breaking shit and pissing out of your eyes, was it something they said?" He asked, expression completely unchanged as he meticulously cleaned the wounds. He knew his friends probably still thought she was working with Kenny and didn't trust her because of it, but Levi knew by now that she was truly at Kenny's club once out of desperation, and would he have been upset if his friends were bothering her and making her re-live that night… He'd done shit for Kenny in the past too in order to look after Mikasa, and he would have broken the jaw of anyone who dared to rub it in his face, he figured Hange wouldn't want anyone bringing up her awkward night at the club either.  
  
    "No, nothing like that." Hange sighed, catching the mild edge in his voice as he asked.  
  
    "Okay." He replied. If is friends hadn't said anything to make her cry, then there was nothing else he really had to say to her… But it would be a lie if he said he wasn't curious as to what got her down when she seemed fine earlier in the night, hell, she looked like she was having fun… But then as he reached to get the ointment from where he'd sat it next to him, he got a good look at the picture in the shattered frame; it was Hange, Armin, Eren and two smiling adults standing behind them… Well that's what he could make out from what wasn't covered in Hange's blood.  
  
    Hange cringed as he looked at the picture, worrying that he might ask about it, but he didn't. In the simple silence of the room, he finished up wrapping her hands without asking her anything else, just as he promised her he would have done, and she studied his face as he worked on her hands... His face was harsh, but his hands were very gentle and careful, so much so that it hardly hurt… But if she thought about it now, he was just kind of that way. He came off as harsh and rough, but Hange saw it when he was with Mikasa or even Eren and Armin, he was a bit of a softie with a mean face.  
  
    Levi was so focused on making sure that he didn't wrap her fingers too tight, that he didn't feel her eyes on him as he worked, so he was a bit shocked when he finished her hands to look up and find a pair of brown eyes peering down at him with a thoughtful expression. He blinked under her gaze, unsure what to say or if he should say anything, or why the heck she was looking at him like that in the first place, until she spoke.  
  
    "Really… Thanks Levi. You might have a face like that, but you have a stand up personality, you know that?" She smiled, a different kind of smile than he'd seen her smile before, it was soft, and gentle and tired and weary all at the same time… The smile only lasted a moment, but it fazed him… He thought that she was just a spaz that could rush around without a care in the world, but even she seemed fragile at times, huh?…. Wait… What did she mean by 'have a face like that'? What was wrong with how he looked?  
  
    He was so busy thinking that he nearly missed when she'd moved to start cleaning up the glass again, "Oi, I just wrapped your fingers why are you picking at the glass again?" He snapped as she gave him a clueless stare.  
  
    "I can't just leave it here-" She started, blinking at him in confusion.  
  
    "Tsk, did you loose so much blood that you lost your common sense? Doing it that way, you'll just open up your wounds again." He scolded, packing up the first aid kit as Hange looked from her fingers back to the glass and let out a sigh.  
  
    "You're right, guess I wasn't thinking." she sighed, "I'll go get the broom."  
  
   " _I'll_ get the broom. Just go to sleep or something." Levi mumbled shutting his first aid kit. She looked like hell, she still had dry blood on her palms and arms, her face smeared with blood and tears, her eyes looked dead… She looked shittier than the day she'd passed out at the zoo and that was saying something.  
  
    "But my friends-"  
  
    "You told them you were working anyway right? It's fine then, I'm sure they can all find their way out just fine on their own." Levi insisted, but she still looked hesitant "Look, I said I'll clean it up already, so just leave it alone." he grumbled.  
  
    "But this room, it's not a room I can just let anyone in…" She insisted, looking around… She didn't want anyone in here at all actually, it wasn't even a room that she wanted to go to. For the past few months she'd been telling herself that she'd clean it out so that she wouldn't have to face that glum feeling of someone missing in the house, or expecting to hear her mother's laugh drifting from the room, but until today, she hadn't even had the guts to enter the room, much less clean anything. She'd wandered into the room today because she missed her parents, but now she realized that it might have still been too much for her to come here again.  
  
    "I'm okay enough to clean the room up myself, no one else should have to do it, I'm okay…" She sighed shakily… Her chest pulling again and she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but her deep breath turned quickly into a ragged sob, that shocked her as much as it clearly shocked Levi.. She tried again to pull it together, but then she felt a tear roll down her cheek, another sob choked out of her throat, and her palms pressed to her eyes as she tried in vain to hide that she was crying.  
  
    He wasn't sure what he could have said right then as he watched her crumble in front of him like a withered plant, "H-hey…" He muttered anxiously, "I thought you were done crying." He stammered, totally unsure what to do with a weepy Hange… When she didn't reply, he suddenly remembered that her friends were downstairs, "I'll go get someone…" He started to get to his feet, to escape having her crying in front of him, but before he could even stand, a shaky hand held tight to his wrist with more strength than he thought a crying person should have.  
  
    "Don't!" She sobbed, eyes wide with urgency behind her glasses, "Everyone … was having a good time down there… I'm not… going to ruin it." She spoke between sobs as her crying only got worse. Her shoulders shook as her sobs came more frequently, but now she kept her face covered with the palms of her hands while stifled sounds escaped her with every sob… And Levi… Well he felt uncomfortable watching her like that, he felt like he was watching her at one of her most personal moments and he shouldn't have been there to see it.  
  
    "I can't just sit here and watch you cry." He sighed sitting back down next to her, "You just expect me to stay an-" His were lost as brown hair pressed to his mouth and absorbed the words, arms tight around his neck kept him from getting enough oxygen to his brain to even have remembered the words, and the sheer shock of what had just happened wasn't helping him too much in the brain department anyway.  
      
    From where she sat, she'd sprung across the floor and hugged her arms around his neck, her sobs muffled by his shoulder that she'd buried her face in… The sobs came so hard and loud, all she wanted was something warm and alive to anchor herself on, and he just happened fit the bill perfectly.  
  
    While Hange's words were lost in sobs, Levi's were lost in the shock of having someone holding onto him like this, in his whole life, the only person he actually remembered simply hugging, was Mikasa, so the warmth of any other human being to him was very shocking, and his initial reaction was to shove her off. His hands quickly grabbed her shoulders, ready to push her off, but then a harsh, bitter sob that would make the most heartless bastard's heart clench, clawed it's way out of her throat and he couldn't get himself to push her off… He could feel the warmth of her tears seeping through his shirt and onto his shoulder, and her hands clenching the back of his shirt like she was holding on for dear life… And he just couldn't take it… Because he'd felt the way she felt right now before; abandoned and miserable, he could tell she felt that way just from her crying, it was a cry he'd let out a million times as a kid when his mother would stay out for a few nights, leaving him all alone… He remembered wishing back then that he had someone to hold onto when he cried like Hange was doing now… So he just couldn't get himself to push her off. Clenching his jaws, he moved his hands on her shoulder and like a mother with a small child, he slowly pat her shoulder, slowly and steadily, the way he did when Mikasa was little and would cry until her face was red, the way no one ever bothered to do for him.  
  
    Her crying got louder, more bitter, more heart wrenching as she felt him patting her back so patiently, she eased into him, letting out all of the pain that she'd kept in for the past two months, that she'd buried under working, under taking care of her brothers, and most of all buried under the crash course of becoming a full fledged adult, with all of the responsibilities of one, but with no guide on how to handle it… She tried to get herself to stop crying, to remind herself that Levi probably didn't appreciate her on him, that he was just being nice to her right now and that she shouldn't take advantage of it, but she couldn't get the tears to stop. How warm and comforting he was didn't help much either, the steady patting of his hand on her back, the warm smell of clean laundry and soap coming from him, how warm he was… To someone who felt as abandoned as she'd secretly been feeling all month, _this_ was a welcome feeling, and she was so thankful, that he didn't shove her away.  
  
    She cried for a whole hour, her mind rattling cries turning into nothing more than short sobs before she went entirely still and silent against him, and for a moment, he thought she'd cried herself to death, something that he realized later was totally stupid, because he still felt her slow steady breathing against his shoulder, he figured Eren's paranoia had rubbed off on him… But then he realized that he now had a totally tired out Hange sleeping on him.  
  
    "Hey." He called, shaking her shoulders lightly, not sure if he should worry more about her sleeping on him, or about her waking back up and crying again, but when he feels her head tilt to the side against his shoulder and hears a soft snore near his ear, he realized that the second thought was not going to happen, "What the hell am I supposed to do with her?" He mumbled, scowling down at her puffy, red, damp face that was leaning on his shoulder… He let out a sigh, letting the hand that he was patting her on the back with fall to his side as he tried to think what to do with her next, but the moment he did, she stirred in her sleep, her brows furrowing.  
      
    "Hey… You ruined my shirt with your snot." He lightly scolded the sleeping brunette on his shoulder, and she stirred again, slowly starting to come back to consciousness, still too tired to lift her head yet as her eyes creaked ever so slightly open.  
  
    "…Sorry." She hummed half consciously, as she leaned back off of him and sat back on her heels. She'd cried so much that she now just felt heavy and emptied out of all emotions and energy, but even through the exhaustion, she was aware that Levi had been quite kind to her by letting her cry on his shoulder, "Hey, Levi you know, you're pretty calm about this whole situation." she mumbled tiredly.  
  
    "What are you talking about?" He grumbled, inspecting his shirt now that she was finally off of him.  
  
    "You know, you're always so calm when stuff happens, it's like you're hardly bothered at all." She chuckled glumly, her eyes heavy from crying.  
  
    "I've seen a lot of shit, I don't react to a lot." He shrugged, his reply offhanded as he scowled down at the damp spot on his shirt… Gross.  
  
    "Seen a lot of shit huh?" She hummed, wiping her fogged glasses, peeking up at him as she did so. Only then did he realize what he'd said and it shocked him that he'd even mentioned his past, he usually never brought it up, well unless he as really comfortable with someone, and he knew that there was no way that he could be that comfortable with her yet… Her crying must have really caught him off guard.  
  
    "I won't ask." She laughed tiredly at the uncomfortable look on his face, "I mean, you let me cry on you all this time and you didn't even ask why, you even offered to clean up the mess I made." She sighed, looking over to the picture frame, still feeling a bit awkward about him even seeing her break down like that, "I-um- I owe you one."  
  
    "One? Try five or six." He huffed, getting to his feet to get the broom that he kept in his room, "Hurry up and go to bed so I can clean up and move on with my life." He spoke grumpily, but she smirked, before getting to her own feet, gazing down at her wrapped fingers for a moment. He acted all tough and rough around the edges, but he was actually an abnormally nice person, wasn't he?  
  
    "Alright, I'll get up in a moment." She yawned again, leaning back against the foot of her parents' old bed, "Get your cleaning stuff, I'll be out of here in a minute." she assured him, but by the way she was getting comfortable on the floor, he couldn't be entirely sure if he could trust that.  
  
    "Right." He gave her a skeptical look before slipping out of the room… As he walked out into the hall, he remembered that there were probably still people down there since he actually hadn't heard anyone leave… Not that he could have heard much over Hange's wailing, but still, he figured he should go check on them.  


* * *

  
    After changing his disgusting shirt, he made his way downstairs… To find everyone that had come over earlier, sitting down with heavy looks on their faces… Even his own friends looked kind of worried.  
  
    "Is Hange okay?" Nanaba was asking, running up to him before anyone else.  
  
    "She's fine. She's asleep." He sighed as he wondered how the heck he ended up in the middle of this.  
  
    "Ah… I guess we should be going then…" Mike hummed, with a light frown playing on his face, "I'll have to call her tomorrow." He sighed.  
  
    "Man… I feel so bad for bringing that up, I can't believe I did that." Nanaba scowled, looking horribly guilty as she looked around to the faces around her, "Everyone was having such a good time and then I brought that up.  
  
    "It's not like you knew." Petra offered, "Besides, we stayed long enough to know that she's okay now right?" Petra pat her roommates back comfortingly, while Levi gave them a weird look.  
  
    "You stayed to see if she was okay?" He asked, totally confused as to why the hell they would do that.  
  
    "Yeah," Eld nodded, "Well, actually we were going to leave," he motioned to the rest of Levi's friends, "but we could hear her crying and it was kind of hard to just pretend we hadn't." He cleared his throat awkwardly.  
  
    "Sounded like she was dying up there." Oluo grumbled with a frown, and Petra shot him a look, "What? It did!" Oluo insisted.  
  
    "Why'd you guys stay for that then? You could have just left." Levi pointed out to his friends. If they left or not, it wasn't like he particularly minded, and it wasn't like they knew Hange at all, they had no _real_ reason to stay.  
  
    "Well, it sounded like she was dying so I thought you might need help with the body." Oluo joked, but Petra stomped quickly on his foot while Mike and Moblit scowled at the man's tasteless joke, "I was kidding!" He insisted holding up his hands.  
  
    "Geez, Oluo, this is why no one invites us out!" Petra hissed before turning to Mike and Moblit, "He didn't mean that okay? It's just that we've been friends with Levi for a long time, and he's not exactly the kind of guy who'd get along with people, so when we met Hange we just might have misjudged her… After today though" Petra trailed off.  
  
    "No… I understand. Hange scares people off sometimes too… I was kind of worried about it when Hange let him move in, but they get along okay." Mike admitted whine Levi sent an agitated scowl between the two groups of people.  
  
    "What the hell is this? A play date? I'm glad everyone's relieved that Hange and I aren't trying to kill each other, but that doesn't mean you need to talk like we're damn kids." He grunted, "We're adults, we can at least co-exist, even if we don't get along really well." he huffed.  
  
    Everyone in the room blinked down at him… except for Petra who blinked up at him, did he really not see that he got along fine with Hange? His friends knew he was a bit dull in the social department, but that was ridiculous, he was even joking with her and everything at dinner! Was it that he was too busy to think about it, or was he too socially deprived to notice? His friends actually couldn't be sure anymore.  
  
    "Tsk, take a picture, it'll last longer." Levi grunted at the group of people staring at him, and then Oluo pulled out his phone and actually snapped a picture of him… Which in turn resulted in Levi kicking everyone out of the house.

* * *

  
  
    "What a shitty night." Levi sighed, going back up the stairs to get the broom from his room to clean up the broken picture frame. He was exhausted now. Working all night was no problem for him, his work at the factory usually kept him working all night anyway, but what was even more exhausting was seeing Hange cry. He didn't know her very well, but even if she'd been a total stranger, he didn't think he could have pushed her away with the way she was crying… It wasn't the fake crying people did when they were begging for money or pity, it was a heartfelt cry of pain and total loss that shook him in a way that only Mikasa's well being and his own livelihood ever had. They were still hardly more than strangers, but somehow seeing her like that was a firm reminder that even though Hange looked so happy and confident, she struggled the same way he had in the past… Ugh, it was weird, he felt like he'd have to avoid her for a little while now before he felt comfortable enough to-  
  
    He pushed open the bedroom door to her parents' room and lost his train of thought as he saw her laying at the foot of her parents' bed sound asleep again.  
  
    "…Didn't I tell her to go to bed, now look where she fell asleep." He grumbled, entirely irritated by how tiring this night was turning out to be, "Tch, I'll get her later." He shrugged, before starting to clean up the glass and the broken frame. She snoozed quietly behind him while he made sure to get all of the blood out of the cream carpeting, and placed the picture on her parents' dresser, resisting the urge to dust down the place out of respect. By the time Levi was done cleaning, he'd totally forgotten Hange was in the room and was ready to go to bed, but as soon as he turned to see her lightly snoring face he rolled his eyes.  
  
    "Dammit, I forgot about her…" He grumbled, trying to think what to do. He didn't want to leave her in this room, she might wake up and cry again, and he was _not_ dealing with that again… So the only other option was to take her to her room… But that also seemed like a pain.  
  
    With an irritated sigh, Levi walked over and scooped her up by under her arms, figuring that it was easier than actually carrying her, and he dragged her down the hallway, letting her feet drag behind her as he went. Getting her down the hallway was the easy part, but once he opened the door to her room, he was at a total loss. The room smelled like body odor and dirt, there were things everywhere, to the point where he couldn't make out what's what, and it took him five minutes of standing in the doorway to even _find_ her bed that was half covered in books and clothes, and god knows what else.  
  
    "You're disgusting, Four Eyes." He scowled down at the sleeping woman as he dragged her into her room. Her legs and arms banged on whatever he couldn't navigate around, and once he finally hiked through her room and made it to her bed, he unceremoniously dumped her, accidentally over shooting and causing her to smack her head on the wall, but she still didn't wake up so he figured that she was probably okay.  
  
    With his job now done, he turned to leave, but right before he turned, he saw her shiver, her face pulling into a frown in her sleep. With a sigh, he moved back towards her, pulled the blanket that was haphazardly thrown into one corner of her bed and pulled it over her, before pulling her glasses off of her face and placing them on her dresser.  
  
    Before he left the room he took one last look at her drooling face. It was strange to him how she went from laughing in the kitchen earlier and joking around, to crying for hours… He always thought that people who quickly changed emotions were fake, but with Hange, it didn't seem fake at all, her laugh seemed just as genuine as her tears, which confused him... He'd never seen anyone that could carefree laugh like that, but cry so bitterly like that too... It was weird, but then again so was she...But it kinda made him more curious about her, he still didn't want to be her friend or any annoying shit like that, but… Just a little bit, he was curious about what the hell went on in her head… But really… Only a little bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Levi's finally getting a little more curious about Hange and why she's so... Hange (a.k.a amazing?)


	13. Green Light Means Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gap is slowly closing.

**Next day**  
  
    The next morning, heavy brown eyes slowly as they met the dim light of an overcast morning that leaked in through the slightly parted curtains of Hange's messy room.  
  
     "Ugh…" She grunted, her hand now raising to meet her throbbing head, her stinging fingertips meeting a swollen spot where her head had been resting against the wall. Her tired mind spun as she tried to pull together all that had happened the night before… She remembered her friends being over, and being surprised about seeing Nanaba, and her running out of the room and accidentally breaking a picture fame in her parent's room, and then she just remembered Levi being there… Oh crap… She remembered crying on him more specifically, and him patiently patting her back.  
  
    "Dammit…" She bit her lip, a bit irritated with herself for breaking down in front of him like that, "On top of all of that, he must have carried me here." She sighed, glumly picking at the blanket that was thrown over her… She felt very bad about being such a bother after he'd been making it pretty clear that time they went for ice cream that he didn't want to get involved in their lives… Lately she'd been thinking that she could change his mind about it, but now any chance she might have had at being his friend, she was starting to think she threw it out of the window last night.  
  
    With a tired sigh, she slowly stretched herself out, working out the knots that had formed from sleeping all night at an odd angle, stretching her arms out in front of her as she did so… The carefully wrapped bandages on her fingers; she got a good look at them all over again now.  
  
    "Still… He did a _really_ good job." She noted. Hange had a bit of a habit of sleeping wildly, so whenever she'd put bandages on in the past, they usually were tangled in the blankets the next morning rather than still being on her… But these bandages were still secure, wrapped neatly on her fingers, but not so tightly that it was uncomfortable. A sigh escaped her as she looked around the room to see her notebooks that she'd left downstairs piled neatly on her desk, with the picture of her and her family place on the very top… Her eyes squeezed shut out of embarrassment for how much trouble she must have caused last night.  
  
    "…I'll have to thank him…" She mused slipping into thought… He could cook, he could clean, it seemed like he managed every aspect of his life just fine, so what the heck could she do something to thank a guy who seemed to have everything under control already, when she was struggling to keep it together? For ten minutes, Hange sat on her bed pondering this, until she came to a conclusion; Just because he _could_ do all of that stuff, didn't mean that he always _wanted_ to. He might have cooked for everyone, but who didn't like a nice surprise breakfast every now and then? Hange hated cooking, but she was going to make sure to provide a nice breakfast for everyone this morning, if it killed her.  
  
    "Alright." She smirked, swinging her feet over the side of the bed and jumping up, "It's only 5:50 a.m now, I have at least an hour before he starts getting ready to take Mikasa to the daycare, if my memory serves me correctly, so I still have time!" She mumbled, rushing around her room to pull on some semi clean clothes before dashing out of her room.  
  
**\--**  
  
**-Levi-**  
  
    It was 6:45 a.m… And his phone was flashing and buzzing next to his head to tell him that.  
  
    "Ugh…" Levi groaned sitting up and getting to his feet automatically despite how tired he was from all of last nights events, but he would manage… Waking up at 6:45, showering, brushing his teeth, cooking and then getting Mikasa ready for the day was all a part of his routine, even when he was physically exhausted, he could manage to get through this routine… But today he was tired.  
  
     Cleaning up the room last night took a long time, resisting the urge to dust the damn room made him take longer, but that wasn't why he was so tired. The picture that had somehow been spared by the blood and broken glass that Hange left in her wake, somehow, that picture ended up making him more tired than anything else.  
  
    As he cleaned he saw that on the back of the photo, the date was written on the back, dating to what was three months ago, and on the front, the smiling faces of Hange's parents and her brothers all around her huge grin as she stood up front with an arm draped over each of her parent's shoulders… She looked pretty happy then, what Eren had told Levi about Hange not 'smiling happy' anymore suddenly made sense, Hange's smile in this picture was way different than any smile he'd seen from her, hell even her brothers looked way happier there, not that he didn't get it though. Since his whole life was mostly a shit show, he couldn't imagine what it must have been like to have had a big happy family just to have it yanked out from under him like, not as an adult and definitely not as a kid…. In a sense, he felt like he was better off having had nothing in the first place than having the expectations of being with a loving family and then losing them… Damn, he shouldn't have let her cry on him, it just felt like one more way he was accidentally getting involved with the life of her and her family… Thinking about all that crap, kept him up too late last night, and now he was awake and it was in his head again? Shit, he really must have been losing it… Before he could think about how much he was losing it, the sound of his phone ringing woke him up.  
  
    In a hurry he took it to the bathroom so that he didn't wake Mikasa and he put the phone to his ear without bothering to check the caller I.D since there were only a handful of people who ever called him anyway.  
  
    "What?" he grumbled into the phone.  
  
    "Good morning to you too!" Petra chirped, "Still not a morning person I see?" she asked with a giggle and Levi rolled his eyes.  
      
    "What do you want?" he grunted, rubbing his tired eyes.  
  
    "Not much, Nanaba was up all night worried about Hange, and since Hange ran off before they could exchange numbers, I thought I'd call on Nanaba's behalf to find out." Petra explained calmly, "So… is she okay?" a concerned edge was in her voice.  
  
    "Don't know…" Levi grumbled, "not my job to know either."  
  
    "Oh come on, you were up there with her the whole time! There's no way you don't know anything." Petra was insisting.  
  
    "Petra, you could have just given me Nanaba's number to give to Hange… Why are you asking all this shit? Why does it matter to you?" Levi asked… He knew Petra pretty well, she was a fairly empathetic person, which was why she was such a good match for Oluo. She kept him from coming off as too heartless and cocky and he kept her from getting too over involved in other people's lives… But every now and then, she ended up still getting too involved in the lives of strangers, even more so when she feels that she might have rubbed them the wrong way… And Levi knew that Petra didn't like Hange right off the bat, now she was probably just feeling bad for thinking that way before she knew the whole situation.  
  
    "I don't know… I guess I just couldn't get the sound of her crying out of my head you know? When we got back home, I just thought about how tough of a time she must have been having to lean on you of all people." Petra chuckled and he frowned.  
  
    "Right." he grumbled.  
  
    "Don't get me wrong!" Petra blurted, just realizing that she might have offended him, "You know that you're not a bad guy, it's just that, right off the bat it can be a little hard to tell that you're not since you're kind of intimidating." she said matter-of-factly and he was quiet for a moment… It wasn't like he didn't know that he was intimidating… But since he hadn't been doing much for the last few weeks but going to work and coming back here, he kind of forgot. At work everyone was as intimidating as he was, and here… Well now that he thought about it, no one treated him as if he were scary or anything… Not Hange and not her brothers. They just treated him like a normal person.  
  
    "Levi?" Petra called once he stopped replying.  
  
    "What?" he asked now, realizing that he forgot to reply.  
  
    "She didn't do anything drastic last night right? I kinda uh… When you came down the stairs, I kinda saw that you had some blood smeared near your neck. I know it must be hard for her, but she didn't do anything drastic did she?" Petra was asking slowly.  
      
    "No, there was some broken glass, and it ended up making a mess." Levi sighed… Petra's questions only serves as a reminder that whatever happened with Hange was Hange's business, he just happened to be there last night, as far as he was concerned; that was it as far as his involvement with her.  
  
    "I gotta go… Gotta get cleaned up." he grumbled, before hanging up without so much as waiting for Petra's reply… He knew she'd find a way to start conversations up again, and he really did need to get ready for the day… Talking about Hange was not what he wanted to do first thing in the morning… No… he had too much to do to waste time on that… But damn if he wasn't too tired to do it all… Especially making breakfast, he usually didn't mind cooking, but today he was too tired to even want to think about cooking.  
-  
Hange  
  
    She could hear the footsteps upstairs… Her time to finish breakfast was almost up and she knew it. In a rush, she grabbed the pots and pans and shoved them all into the dish washer, before wiping down the counter tops in a hurry so that no one would see the mess she made while trying to make a simple breakfast. It had to have been a millisecond after she'd slammed the dishwasher door shut and turned the dishwasher on, just as she heard someone walk into the kitchen.  
  
    "Morning!" She sang, all too eagerly as she spun around and saw the unenthusiastic, grey eyed, blank stare from the kitchen entrance.  
  
    "Smells like food…" Levi muttered, looking around hesitantly, "Why?"  
  
    "I cooked breakfast!" she smiled proudly, puffing up her chest a bit as she waved her hand out towards the food on the table.  
  
    "With your bloody, nasty hands? Not interested." Levi grumbled.  
  
    "Don't be a grump, I wore gloves!" She stated quickly, holding her hands up to show the clear disposable gloves she was wearing over her bandaged hands.  
  
    Slowly, Levi walked closer to the food to get a better look. There were some overcooked scrambled eggs, some waffles and some toast arranged on the table.  
  
    "The waffles and toast will get soggy if you leave them piled up like that, and the eggs are overcooked." he commented offhandedly as he inspected the food, "Why the hell did you cook this slop?"  
  
    "Slop? I know it' not great, but how can you call it slop if you haven't even tasted it?" She frowned.  
  
    "I know slop when I see slop." Levi pointed out bluntly and Hange sighed, pressing her hand to her forehead.  
  
    "Geez, that's the last time I try and do some chores to thank you." she muttered under her breath, just as the kettle that was on the stove screamed, indicating that the water she'd been boiling was finished and taking a step back from the food, Levi watched her in confusion.  
  
    "… To thank me?" he asked, his gruff expression changing to one of confusion, "Why?" the sound of genuine bafflement in his voice made her chuckle even with her back turned to him.  
  
    "What do you mean why? You bandaged my hands, you cleaned the room for me, you even carried me to my room and got my books and the picture for me… Don't you think that deserves a thank you?" She asked, tossing him an amused smile over her shoulder as she poured the hot water into his favorite tea cup.  
  
    "Why are you using my cup?" he asked defensively, in some vain attempt to stop her from bringing down his defenses with her stupid _friendly gestures_ and _'thank you's._  
  
    "You always drink tea in the morning from _this_ cup." She shrugged, "Even if you don't want to eat the food I made, you'll at least drink the tea right? I really am trying to thank you here, I though that making breakfast for everyone so you didn't have to would be a good way to do it, but I guess not huh?" She chuckled, "Since you don't want to eat my food, maybe a cup of tea will suffice as a thanks?" She offered, placing the tea on the counter and pushing it towards him with a grin, but it faltered once she saw the complicated look that sat heavy on his face now.  
  
    "I already told you, I didn't do anything so great to deserve a thank you. It would've been an asshole thing to do if I just pushed you off, but it wasn't like I didn't consider it." he was insisting again, his tone low in his own confusion, choosing to look down at the tea now rather than her… The tea wasn't smiling at him at least.  
  
    "Oh come on, you're acting like this is the first time anyone did something like this for you before. I mean it's not much, it's just a silly little breakfast to thank you, you act like no one's ever did something like this for you." she chuckled, playfully patting his shoulder with her palm, and the expression on his face went dark.  
  
    Looking into the swirling black tea in the cup, he felt a sort of melancholy wash over him at her question. No one had ever bothered cooking for him, no one cooked for him, or cleaned for him, that's why he learned all of these things. His mother never cooked a meal for him, she was too busy getting fucked up and trying to impress men, his uncle never made time for him unless it was using him, his father had walked out almost a week after Levi was born, seeing as Levi didn't even have teeth back then, he was pretty sure his father had never cooked for him, and while his friends were probably the most decent people he'd met, they couldn't cook for shit, so he usually ended up being the one cooking no matter who he was around…  
  
    "No." Levi's response was so low, as if he hadn't even realized that he'd said it out loud and Hange couldn't help but be a bit shocked by his answer… How could no one had ever cooked for him? If he'd always been cooking for himself, it was no wonder it was so good at it, but the look on his face made her painfully aware that this person in front of her had not learned the skills she'd admired about him on his own accord, but out of total necessity, and she was suddenly far less jealous of his skills as she thought about the things he might had to have endured.  
  
    "I'm sorry, that was accidentally a prying question wasn't it?" Hange asked, clearing her throat, "I didn't mean to say anything that would-"  
  
    "Forget it." he hummed, sipping the tea, "You cooking means one less chore for me. I- uh accept your thanks." he wasn't sure what else to say to her weird kindness but that.  
  
    "Don't worry about it." She smiled gently and the same feeling of curiosity from the night before bubbled up in Levi's stomach and somehow found its way to his lips before he could stop it.  
  
    "After all of the crying and shit from last night, how the fuck are you smiling?" he asked with a light scowl… And might have regretted the question had he been a different kind of man, but he wasn't, he wanted to know how the hell someone could be like her, he felt like he had the right to know after she ruined his shirt at least. Even though he asked his question almost harshly, Hange could only laugh at the genuinely confused look on his face as he asked.  
  
    "That's an easy one." She snorted, leaning back on the counter.  
  
    "Then how?" he scowled, not wanting some round about, bullshit answer.  
  
    A smirk crossed Hange's face, totally amused by his sudden curiosity towards her, and she opened her mouth to answer, but her reply was cut short by the sound of tiny feet coming down the stairs.  
  
    "Crap." Hange hissed in place of her response to Levi's question as the footsteps got closer. She looked down at her bandaged hands through the clear gloves and anxiously bit her lip, she kew that Eren who was already worried about her would only worry more if he saw her hands like that, but what could she do to hide her hands on such short notice? Her eyes darted around the kitchen to find a quick fix, but she wasn't seeing anything.  
  
    "Heads up." Levi called, tossing something her way. A hiss of pain escaped her as she caught whatever it was that he threw in her cut up hands, but looking down she noticed that they were oven mitts. She looked up to him, almost shocked that he figured out what she was silently worried about so quickly.  
      
    "Hurry up, Four Eyes." he spoke hurriedly, waving his hand for her to hurry, and she did too, smirking to herself that he still was calling her that childish name from the night before, and almost as soon as Mikasa and Eren came darting around the corner towards the kitchen, she'd slipped the mitts on right in time as the two young, smiling faces came into view.  
  
    "Waffles!" Eren cheered pumping his fist in the air as he jumped up in the air before running over to his sister and hugging her around the knees, "Morning Hange!" He smiled affectionately up to his sister and she gave him a pat on the head with her oven mitt covered hand, letting out a sigh that she got the oven mitts on in time.  
  
    "Morning." Mikasa called quietly from where she stood in front of her own brother.  
  
    "Morning." he smiled at her gently, ruffling her hair a bit, making the little girl break out into a small smile of her own.  
  
    "Good morning Hange." Mikasa called over with a smile all for her and Levi rolled his eyes as Hange replied… His little sister's favoritism of Hange was still present, but he figured it was okay so long as he was around to supervise and make sure that Mikasa wasn't getting overly attached to Hange. As Hange told him at the ice cream shop, Mikasa was probably just curious about her best friend's big sister.  
  
    "Morning Levi!" Eren called loudly, running right up to Levi and hugging him around the knees just like how he did for Hange, and everyone went still a moment…Seemed like Mikasa wasn't the only one curious about their friend's bigger sibling, Eren was as clingy as ever… Was randomly hugging Levi her family's new hobby or something? Geez.  
  
    "Ahaha… Sorry." Hange laughed awkwardly, coming over to pry Eren off of Levi, "You shouldn't randomly hug people like that, Mr. Levi might not like it."  
  
    Levi was quirking a brow, thinking of the irony of Hange telling her brother not to hug him after she'd spent an hour on him the night before, but he wouldn't bring that up in front of the kids, not with the hard look Hange was giving him.  
  
    "Okay…" Eren replied slowly with a frown, "Sorry if I made ya angry, Mr. Levi."  
  
    "Just eat your breakfast, kid." Levi replied cooly, watching as the kids hurriedly scrambled for the food laid out on the table.  
  
    "I'm going to go get Armin." Hange announced as she watched the kids starting to eat their food, after all, it wasn't like Armin could get down here to join everyone else by himself just yet, and Hange knew how much he hated to be left out when everyone was together.  
      
    "Hmm." Levi waved his hand to her without looking back as he went to sit with the kids and make sure no one died eating Hange's food.  
  
    Eren kicked his feet from the stool he was sitting on as he looked down at the waffles and his eyes lit up as soon as he got a good look at them, "Hange made this!" he announced with a grin and Levi looked at the kid questioningly.  
  
    "How'd you know that?" Levi asked, genuinely curious as to how the kid knew by one look.  
  
    "They're dino shaped! Dinos are my second favorite!" The boy beamed down at the pancakes, before roaring down at the dinosaur, ripping off it's tail, dunking it in syrup and savagely chewing it.  
  
    "I see." Levi replied dryly, as Mikasa dug into her food with an enthusiasm that matched Eren's. They made her food look good, but there was no way it was right? There was a reason that he was the one cooking, even she admitted that she couldn't cook… With mild curiosity, he looked down at the plate that she'd prepared for him and wondered if it really could be bad with the way they were eating.  
  
    Taking a seat in front of the food Hange cooked, he hesitantly picked up a fork and picked up some of the scrambled eggs before lifting it to his mouth and tasting it… It was too salty… A bit over cooked… But it wasn't horrible actually, not like he expected it to be, and it tasted better to him since it meant that he didn't have to cook this morning. He took a sip of the tea she'd made for him, before looking to the kids who were laughing together and naming the dinosaurs that sat on their plates before savagely eating them. It was a weird peaceful kind of moment, he was kind of glad that she cooked, even if the food wasn't great… Her gesture was kind of thoughtful actually. If he thought about it, he way of saying thank you was so thoughtful that it caused a weird kind of uncomfortable stirring in his stomach… Since no one had ever done anything like this for him before, he wasn't sure how to feel about it, but it didn't stop the weird feeling in his gut, it was an ominous feeling almost, and though he'd felt ominous feelings his whole life, but it was never one like this before, this was a different kind of ominous feeling…  
      
    "What'cha thinkin' about, Levi?" Mikasa asked, pulling him from his thoughts and now he realized he'd been spacing out, and right as he went to answer, Hange came around the corner, with a smile on her face and a giggling Armin in her arms…  
  
    "Nothing." Levi lied.  
  
**-**  
  
**An hour later**  
  
    Breakfast went peacefully. Hange ate with the kids laughing and carrying on, while Levi drank only his tea, refusing to eat anymore of the overcooked eggs after he'd bitten into a piece of eggshell. The time passed quickly, though cleaning the syrup off of the kids took a long time, so they were nearly a little late running out of the door to get to the car. They went to the daycare together since kids all insisted on going to school together and a few weeks ago, Levi and Hange came to the unspoken conclusion that it was way easier to just take the car together, than trying to get 3 whining kids out of the door.  
  
    In the car, the kids, as usual, chatted in the back, and Hange, as usual, joined in with them, while Levi drove the car in silence. As usual, they walked the kids in together, ignored the assuming smiles of the staff as they whispered that Levi always gave Hange rides lately. As usual they signed in their respective kids and then, and they left the daycare separately, as usual.  
  
    Usually Hange took the bus after dropping the kids off and went downtown to the lab that she did work for to drop things off or see if they had any extra things that she could do, while Levi went straight home and got dinner for tonight out of the way or cleaned up his and Mikasa's room before getting ready to pick up Mikasa and then go to work… But today, that didn't happen, today things became a little unusual.  
  
    Hange was halfway to the bus stop from the doors of the daycare, and Levi was a few steps behind her as he walked for his car when it suddenly occurred to him … He didn't actually know where she went during the day, or what she did, he still didn't know how she could be strutting down the street with the stupid smile she was wearing earlier after crying out half of her body weight in tears the last night. He was curious, and right now, he actually didn't have any pressing matters to get home to so-  
  
    "Hey, Four Eyes, where you going?" he called after her, picking up his pace to lessen the distance between them.  
  
    "What?" She asked as she spun around, half convinced that she was hearing things since until this moment, he never really made any move to talk to her first.  
  
    "I said where are you going? I have some stops to make so if you're going the same way, I don't mind giving you a ride." he mumbled. Hange stared blankly at him a moment… Now she knew she wasn't hearing things, but she couldn't believe what she was hearing. The stupid look on her face made him roll his eyes as she stared at him, "Look, I don't have all day so are you coming or what?" he grumbled, unlocking the car.  
  
    "Oh! Yeah, I'm going downtown so if you're going that way, I accept your offer." she smiled as she pulled herself together.  
  
    "Come on then." he waved his hand, indicating for her to follow him as he walked towards his old rusty car, with her a few steps behind him now… He had been lying when he said he had chores to run, but between Petra calling and asking about Hange this morning, Hange's own explanation of how she's able to carry on, and his own budding curiosity, he couldn't help but want to figure her out a least a little… That way he'd know just who he was dealing with, he always liked to know who he was dealing with, in case they were a threat to Mikasa or himself, that's all this was, after all, Hange was strange, and he was realizing that she was stranger than he thought before just from her recent actions, so to him this was all just in the name of protecting his family… Well that's what he tried to tell himself anyway, but as he saw the happy grin on her face as she climbed into the car, he knew that for a long time, he hadn't seen her as a threat to his family, and he still didn't… But it wasn't like he could admit to himself that he wanted to know more about his weird ass landlord.  
  
    "Thanks for the ride. I don't mind taking the bus, but it can be a little crowded around this time." she chuckled as she climbed into the car.  
  
    "Not a problem." he hummed, pulling out of the parking lot and out to the main road while she quickly put on her seatbelt. She flashed him a small smile as she settled in and took a look out of the window.  
  
    "You know you're still wearing the oven mitts right?" Levi asked, eying her hands from the side of his eye while he drove.  
  
    "Oh! I totally forgot." she snorted, slipping the mitts off now to see her bandaged hands. Levi rolled his eyes, he wondered just how much other weird shit Hange did since Eren didn't question once why she was wearing oven mitts all morning, but he didn't ask the kid, he was almost scared to know, "I don't think the wounds are so bad where I'll need more than just some small bandages now, but thanks for wrapping my hands for me, you're really good at that stuff huh?" She hummed.  
  
    "I guess." he replied with a shrug. He wasn't going to tell her it was a skill he learned from always getting into fights, and Hange didn't want to pry, though she did want to ask about how he got so good at it, but making him uncomfortable wasn't worth it, not when she felt like he was finally starting to be less standoffish towards her, even after last night. It seemed to her like he had all sorts of skill sets and she was starting to get the feeling that he learned them all out of necessity, so what would he need to learn wrapping wounds for?  
  
    "Looks like it'll rain." she commented lightly, tilting her head to look out of the window, figuring that changing the topic would be best.  
  
    "Hmm…" he hummed sounding disinterested as he pulled up to a red light and almost moments after she'd said it, the sky opened up and pelted the car as well as the stunned people out on the streets who walked the sidewalks.  She smiled lightly to herself as she watched a couple run quickly to the cover of a building's awning, laughing as they finally made it to cover and exchanging a quick kiss between the laughter. It was a cute moment, but Hange looked away, even before she had to take care of her brothers, she had been hesitant about relationships, but now that she had her brothers to take care of, she knew for sure that there would be no relationships for her for a _very_ long time… That was fine with her though. She briefly wondered if Levi was the same. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who would have a girlfriend, he was too standoffish, she couldn't see him letting anyone that close… Then again, she had never thought about him having friends either, yet they were over last night, and they were a surprisingly lively bunch that seemed to be very loyal to him, so who knew really? But looking out at the couple, huddling close together in the rain, she had to admit, the idea of having someone to share the good and bad times with sounded like a pretty sweet deal… It might not have been her forte, but she silently wished them good luck.  
  
    "What the hell are you smiling about?" Levi was asking.  
  
    "Hmm?" She hummed, coming out of her daze as she looked over to see Levi looking at her from the side of his eyes as he waited for the light to change, "Oh, I was just looking out of the window."  
  
    "Yeah, you were staring at that couple like a creep." he snorted dryly.  
  
    "Was I?" she chuckled, "I was just thinking that i wouldn't be having any moments like that anytime soon since I have to take care of my brothers and all."  
  
    "And you're telling me this because-?" he droned, sounding unamused, but Hange wasn't that easily deterred.  
      
    "You have a girlfriend?" She asked flat out and he froze up, sure that he heard her wrong, "A boyfriend maybe?" she asked again, when she saw him tense up, and she figured she missed the mark with the girlfriend thing, but the glare  he gave her, assured her that she was still wrong.  
  
    "Why are you asking me this shit?" he grunted.  
  
    "Don't know, when I saw them outside, I was just wondering if they were in a situation like either of ours, would that sort of life still be possible?" She asked thoughtfully, more out of passing wonder than anything, but Levi didn't know that. Again he found himself looking at her from the side of his eye while she gazed out of the window. He was still under the impression that her and Mike were dating, but by the look on her face and the fact that Mike didn't go up at all the night before to check on her when she ran off, he kind of got the feeling that if they were together, their relationship wasn't going too great… But he wasn't going to involve himself in that.  
  
    "Right." he paused for a moment, "I don't have a girl or a guy so I can't answer that shitty question." he grunted, turning to look back at the road right as the light changed and he took off again, "Since I just answered your question, so you plan to answer my question from this morning?" he said, turning a corner as he was driving. Hange looked at him, confusion clear on her face.  
  
    "Your question?" she really had no idea what he was talking about.  
  
    "I asked you how you're still smiling after all of that crying and shit from last night." He asked again, eyes fixed on the road.  
  
    "Oh?" her brows pulled together as she tried to remember him asking that… Then she remembered, "Oh! I remember now." she chuckled, resting her head back on the headrest.  
  
    "You plan on answering the damn question?" he grunted, looking over at her again, irritation in his tone, but she only laughed again.  
  
    "You have a potty mouth you know." she smirked slyly, watching as he shrugged with irritation on his face as he waited to hear where she was going with this, "You don't have one when Mikasa's around though." her sly smirk turned into a gentle smile as a mild look of realization sparked in his eyes, "I get why you do it though. You don't want Mikasa to curse like you do, because you care about her. Well, it's the same thing for me, I can smile because I don't want my brothers to wallow in their sadness, because I want to help them move forward even though it's hard, because I'm all they've got." she sighed a heavy sigh before smiling again, "I want to cry sometimes, yes, but because of my brothers I want to make sure that I smile too. Just like how you don't want Mikasa to curse, and I don't want my brothers to cry, it doesn't mean that you don't want to curse sometimes, just like it doesn't mean that I don't want to cry at times. We're not so different when you think of things like that. Guess that's part of why I thought we could be friends before." she mused, turning to look out of the window, drifting off into silence.  
      
    He was kind of floored by her response, and as much as his brain tried to come up with some smart ass reply to combat the distant, almost gentle tone in her voice, but he couldn't. He turned to look at her and it was like his brain had stalled for a moment… Because it seemed like even though he'd been going out of his way to keep distance between her family and his, between herself and himself, she already had him figured out, and when she spoke, she really made it sound like she wasn't so different from him, like maybe she was just someone who could understand his way of thinking.  
  
    The car behind him honked, he whipped his head around to see the light was green now… Who knew how long the light had been green? He sure didn't.  
  
    Next to him Hange snorted a laugh, mistaking his mildly flustered expression as being flustered from getting honked at and not knowing that the realization of her not being as different from him as he initially thought. He glared at her for laughing, but she laughed on anyway, not intimidated by his glare as she turned back to the window, the sound of her laughter quickly being replaced by the sound of the humming and occasional huff of the old car as silence settled in between the two of them.  
  
    The silence wasn't a bad thing though. While Hange kept her eyes fixed on the people outside of the window, Levi kept his own on the road, both of them pondering how the person sitting next to them could be so different and yet so similar. Hange pondered this in amused wonder, while Levi pondered it in mild anxiety…  
  
-  
  
    "Thanks for the ride!" Hange sang happily as Levi pulled up to a building downtown, just as the rain stopped. In a rush she swung the door open and  practically leapt out of the car, her bag holding her paperwork nearly getting caught in the door as she went. She slammed the door shut behind her, and Levi cringed, knowing that he'd asked her a million times not to do that, but she was already running towards the lab in excitement to get to work, but she paused, halfway to the door standing there a moment before turning around. It actually hadn't occurred to her, since it was such a rare occurrence, but Levi had actually been nice and sociable today… She had to say a little more than 'thanks for the ride', right?  
  
    Without thinking, she spun on her heels, half expecting to find the rusty old car he drove already gone, but when she spun, she saw him still there, parked at the sidewalk, speaking into his phone and looking somewhere in her general direction.  
  
    "Heeeeeey!" She called out now, cupping her hands around her mouth. The confused look that crossed his face as he looked around to the people who stared at her like she was a mad woman, figuring that she must have been talking to one of them, but she pointed right at him. He pointed at himself, and as she nodded, he rolled his eyes and lowered his passenger side window, figuring that she'd forgotten something and was asking him to get it for him, but he was wrong. In a rush, she ran back up to the car in her bright yellow tracksuit, getting the attention of everyone and their mothers as she ran for the car and ducked down into the window.  
  
    "What?" He grunted, holding his phone away from him and leaning over to look at her.  
  
    "I just wanted to say thanks again. When you first talked about moving in, I wasn't too sure about having a short, kinda weird angry guy living here with my brothers, but you're not so bad you know." She smirked and he rolled his eyes.  
  
    "You think I was thrilled to move in with some random ass spazz and her two brats? I was desperate." he replied with a humorless laugh, and Hange chuckled.  
  
    "Maybe not, but you know I'm not so bad." she smoked, knowingly as she backed up from the window, "I just wanted to say thanks again, I'm going now, have fun with your chores." she chuckled before turning and jogging off again without waiting for him to reply.  
  
    "Tch… Fucking weirdo…" Levi mumbled, putting his phone back to his ear, "I'm back." he spoke into the phone.  
  
    "Was that Hange?" Petra was asking, as she'd called back, asking if he knew how Hange was yet and if he could give her Nanaba's number.  
  
    "Yeah, that was her." he sighed into the phone.  
      
    "But didn't you say you were dropping Mikasa off? So how was Hange with you still?" Petra was pondering and Levi sighed, as he heard the little gasp of realization on the other side of the call.  
      
    "Oh my gosh, did you drive her?"  
  
    "Mikasa makes a big stink if we don't all go together." Levi sighed.  
  
    " _Riiiiiight_ , but you dropped Mikasa off awhile ago right? Why is she still with you then? Did yo drive her somewhere else? Trying to get in some quality time with your landlord now?" Petra teased, and he rolled his eyes.  
  
    "No." he grunted irritably.  
  
    "Relax, I'm only kidding." Petra giggled, "But it's good that you get along with your landlord at least."  
  
    "More like tolerate." Levi commented, putting his phone on speaker and placing it on the dashboard as he put the car in drive and took off down the street.  
  
    "Oh please, you're totally friendly towards her, it's okay to making new friends you know. Hange doesn't seem as bad as I thought she'd be when I heard she was working for Kenny."  
  
    "Tch, don't even bring him up." Levi scowled pulling to a red light and stopping in traffic.  
  
    "I know, but I'm just saying," Petra sighed, trailing off for a moment before speaking again, "I thought she'd be a bad person since she worked for Kenny, but I guess it was like you said before; just a one time thing."  
  
    "Yeah, it was a fucking wreck too." he snorted remembering her awkward dance on the stage. It wasn't funny at all back then, but remembering how weird he thought she was back then on the stage, remembering that she almost tried to fight Kenny even when she looked tired as hell, remembering her shoving the fries in her face when he gave her a ride home on the night he asked if she had an extra room… It was weird how much things had changed from a month and a half ago… He never would have thought back then that he would have been the slightest bit curious about her, hell, even now he was fighting the curiosity.  
  
    "You like living there." it wasn't a question so much as an observation.  
  
    "It's not horrible." Levi shrugged.  
  
    "You like _her_?" Petra was asking flat out and Levi snorted a laugh from his nose.  
  
    "Fuck no. She's just a landlord, she's got the idea that we'll be friends, but I don't plan on letting that shit happen. I don't need more friends, you shits keep my hands full and I have to take care of Mikasa ." he grunted, tapping his hand on the steering wheel, wondering why the light was taking so long to change.  
  
    "Oh, right?" Petra replied, smiling, unbeknownst to him… Petra had a dim feeling that Levi didn't get that his situation had changed since moving in with Hange… He wasn't as on guard as he was at the old house, as the neighborhood was better and he seemed pretty comfortable around Hange too. He didn't seem to notice it, but thinking back to dinner last night, he _did_ seem way more relaxed and at ease than she'd seen him since… well since she knew him. Whether he would see it or acknowledge it or not, she could tell that there was definitely something between them, definitely something that they might both benefit from.. Petra might not have liked the idea of pushing Levi to get close to some woman because of her lingering feelings for him, but she figured that him feeling like he had someone he could trust that he was living with was more important than her old feelings when she already had Oluo who she adored. Yes, Levi's emotional and mental well being was the most important thing right now, and she was almost certain that Hange would be a good influence on him somehow.  
  
    "Why the hell did you get all quiet?" Levi asked hesitantly after a moment of total silence from Petra, a rare thing when on a call with her.  
  
    "No reason." Petra sang to herself as an idea, much similar to the idea Mike formed the very first time he saw Levi and Hange together; she was going to help their friendship along, for their sake.  
  
    "What are you up to?" Levi replied hesitantly. He knew that tone of her voice, she was up to something, or would be up to something soon, he just wasn't sure what it was.  
  
    "Oh, nothing. Listen, I've got to go, so please give Hange, Nanaba's number and I'll talk to you later okay? Bye!" this time she hung up on him before he could reply.  
  
    "Okay?" he mumbled, putting his phone aside in confusion. He knew Petra was up to something, but he wasn't sure what, though he did have a feeling whatever she was planning would be annoying him really soon… The light he had been sitting at, waiting for it to turn green, finally changed, and he took off down the road.  
  
    A few miles away, Petra was smiling to herself, a few ideas on how to help Levi and Hange's friendship along popping into her head. Just like the light Levi had been sitting at, Petra's idea to help Levi get closer to Hange who he obviously got along great with, was getting the green light from her, and she was sure it was going to end up great… Probably.


	14. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The daycare is closed for a little while, and Levi needs a babysitter... Who will he turn to? His landlord.

**Two days later**  
  
    It was the middle of the night, Hange was sitting in the living room in the light of the lamp that was near the window, a baby monitor propped on the table next to her as she worked just in case Armin or Eren started crying in the night and she didn't hear it from down stairs. She smiled to herself as she read over her notes. Today, she'd gotten some particularly interesting information from the lab, and had been waiting all day to get to it since the daycare she usually went to was closed for some major repairs for the next few days and she had to look after her brothers most of the day. Now with free time as they slept, she was sitting curled up on the couch eager to review the information. She was no longer sure how long she'd been sitting there, or what time it was at the moment, heck, she might have even been exhausted, but she was so wrapped up in work that she didn't even feel it! It was a bit of an unhealthy norm for her to get so wrapped up in work that she forgot reality, but it was something that she was used to, her concentration while she worked was something that was very hard to break, it was so hard to break that she didn't even hear the front door open and shut.  
  
    "Hey, Four Eyes." A dull voice called out, and Hange's eyes snapped up from the page to see someone standing in front of her. She jumped halfway so high out of the chair in such shock to see someone standing there that she dropped half of her books on the floor.  
  
    "Gyahh! What?!" She gasped, hands up defensively as her brain slowly processed that it was in fact Levi and not an intruder. After a moment, her hands fell back down to her sides now as he stared at her with a blank expression.  
  
    "Tch, what kind of reaction is that?" he asked, brow arched as he looked down at her.  
  
    "I thought you were an intruder…" he scoffed at her response, a look of mild amusement passing over his face.  
  
    "And what the hell would screaming, and making that dumb ass face you made do if I was an intruder?" he asked sounding almost amused, while she frowned up at him.  
  
    "You underestimate me, my brain was processing if you were a stranger or not, but if I didn't recognize you, you would be totally incapacitated by now." she explained, crossing her arms over her chest with a satisfied grin at her own reasoning.  
  
    "Uh huh." he rolled his eyes, before reaching down and getting her notebook that she'd dropped and handing it to her. If he actually thought back to it, he was sure she knew how to defend herself to some extent if he remembered that time she almost fought Kenny, but she doubted that she could beat him, especially with those huge bags under her eyes that he noticed as he held the books out to her.  
  
    "Thanks." she yawned reaching to take the book from him.  
  
    "Knowing you, you wouldn't pick it up again if I didn't."  
  
    "Not true! I keep my stuff out of the common area, she shrugged, curling her legs back under her and readjusting her glasses on her face as she spoke.  
  
    "Is that why when I saw your room it looked like a fucking death trap?" he asked casually, folding his arms over his chest.  
  
    "I said I keep it out of the common area, it's not like anyone comes in my room but me, and I don't see any circumstances arising where you'd have to carry me back to my room so it's fine." she flashed him a grin, and he rolled his eyes again.  
  
    "Whatever you say." he sighed, sitting down on the chair across from the couch that Hange was sitting on, mush to her surprise.  
  
    "Oh? What's up?" She asked, slightly unnerved by his sudden seriousness. They had spoken in passing the last few days, idle conversation in the car here and there as they dropped the children off at school, more than she expected from the grumpy little man, but she didn't say anything out of concern that he might stop talking to her all over again if she pointed it out, but she wasn't sure if his sudden seriousness would snuff their little conversations before she accidentally did.  
  
    "Gotta talk business with you." he explained, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward, tilting his head to look up to her, his expression more harsh than usual.  
  
    "Okay?" she started hesitantly, placing her books aside so that she could hear him out.  
  
    "Long story short, one of my co-workers got fired and they need me to work overtime for a few days until they can find a new guy, so I won't be able to cook for those days." he sighed.  
  
    "Pssh! That's all?" Hange chuckled, leaning back in her seat, "I thought you were going to tell me your dark past was catching up to you and we'll all be in danger or that you secretly a under cover spy or something like that." she laughed heartily, slapping her knee while he stared at her trying to hide his confusion.  
      
    "I don't have anyone who can come over and watch Mikasa for me since the daycare is closed, so I needed to ask if…" he explained pausing, squeezing his eyes shut as he asked the question he was dreading to ask the whole drive home, "Can you watch Mikasa for me?" he grumbled, face contorted in what looked to her like constipation.  
  
    "Hah! Why are you making that face? Watching Mikasa isn't a big deal, she usually hangs around while the boys play anyway, so I know she's a good kid, besides I'll be here anyway." She shrugged with a smile, while Levi could only frown at how easily she was excepting this.  
  
    "Well how much should I pay you for this then? You can add it on with whatever you'll add to my rent for not cooking the next few days since you were taking the money from my rent for cooki-"  
  
    "Don't worry about it." She cut in lightly, waving her hand as she picked up her notes again. He blinked at her in total and utter confusion about what she'd just said.  
  
    "What do you mean 'don't worry about it'? It's money that _you'll_ be losing." his brows pulled together in confusion.  
      
    "I mean don't worry about it. I won't change the price at all, it's not a big deal. I can figure out what to do for dinner, I'm not a great cook, but I can make some kick ass sandwiches." she chuckled lightly, highlighting parts of her notes while she spoke, "Besides, you've helped me out before."  
  
    "If… you say so…" Levi replied slowly, his brain not able to comprehend how she couldn't want his money… He didn't know what he expected, actually, whenever he expects her to have a normal, _logical_ reaction to things, she never does, "Alright, that's all I had to say." he pressed his palms into his knees as he got up, his muscles aching from a long day at work.  
  
    "But you know-" Hange started right as he got to his feet and he cringed.  
  
    "What?" he groaned, turning to look at her now, slowly blinking his tired eyes at her while she looked up at him with a smile.  
  
    "I won't charge you, but I _do_ want something to ask of you." she started, noting the dreadful look on his face, so she quickly added, "It's totally optional, but I'd really like if you agreed."  
  
    "What is it?" He sighed, sifting his weight onto one leg.  
  
    "It's a little sudden, but after you gave me Nanaba's number, I started talking with her and she asked about giving Eren a late birthday gift and I realized we never celebrated his birthday.." Hange sighed, her shoulders slumping a bit before she sat upright again looking a little more upbeat, "Soooo, was thinking about having a small birthday party for Eren this weekend in the backyard and inviting some of his friends and stuff over next month, and I won't ask you to attend if you don't want to, but I would like help fixing up the back yard a bit, just cutting the grass and setting up some tables for snacks would be great." she made sure to flash him a big smile in hopes that it would soften the hard look on his face and at the very least get him to agree to help.  
  
    "Eren's birthday?" Levi asked slowly.  
  
    "Yup," she nodded, her smile slipping a big now, "His birthday was actually a few days before my parents accident back in March, but it kind of got skipped with every thing that ended up happening… Me scrounging for money, you moving in, me looking for a job, you know? I just want to do something nice for him even if it is a bit late, he's been really strong through all of this…" she smiled sadly. She knew all too well how hard Eren was trying to be tough for her, and for all of his effort she felt like he needed a day to just have fun and be a kid for awhile.  
  
    It was hard for her to tell what Levi was thinking with the stony expression he was sending her way, but after a moment, his body language softened. It sounded like a pain in the ass to clean the yard with her, but he could understand wanting to do something nice for a little sibling when they deserved it… He would have done the same for Mikasa, and honestly, he didn't dislike Hange's siblings. If there was one thing Levi learned from living here, it was that her siblings were pretty good kids, they'd follow him around with Mikasa when Hange was busy and they'd help him clean… Though they sometimes made more of a mess than they did help, he never discouraged them from learning how to clean and stuff, since he though it was an important life skill, and besides they always looked so happy to try and help him out...  
  
    "It's not like I don't clean up around here already anyway…" He grunted, trying his best to look irritated, but Hange had a feeling that he really wasn't really irritated at all.  
  
    "And will you attend the par-"  
  
    "No." he cut her off with a flat stare, "I already told you, I have no interest in getting to close to you or your brothers, so don't get me over involved." He grunted, starting to turn to leave, but then he paused, rethinking what he just said as he thought to Mikasa, she would be upset if she wasn't aloud to go. Mikasa can go without me and have fun, she can find me in the room if she needs me." he spoke firmly and Hange saw no room for questions or arguments in his eyes, even when she gave him a little pout, and he ignored the pleading look on her face as he turned to leave.  
  
    She laughed a little to herself as he turned to leave. She really didn't think pouting would work, but it was worth a try, she knew Eren would be very happy if Levi came to the party, but she would take what she could get, no point in being ungrateful when he already agreed to help her, and she knew Levi's stance on being around her family.   
  
    "Hey…" He called paused in the doorway, back still turned to her, "For not charging me on the dinner and the umm, the babysitting-" he started, unsure of how to continue now as he stood there in total awkward silence looking down to the almost baffled expression on Hange's face, before she broke the silence with a chuckle.  
  
    "Don't worry about it," She started, a mischievous smile crossing her face the smile illuminated in the light glow of the lamp next to her…the same ominous feeling he got when he was starting to feel curious about her a few days ago flared up again, "All is good between friends." her smile managed to get even more mischievous as she spoke the words.  
  
    "Yeah fucking right." he grumbled, turning on his heel and leaving the room while she cackled behind him at his reaction.  
  
    He hurriedly made his way to his room to make sure Mikasa was sleeping well, that the room wasn't too cold, that she was tucked in and had her red scarf nearby(since the girl claimed she wouldn't sleep without it). Once Mikasa was re-tucked in he made his way to the bathroom to wash up, change his clothes and brush his teeth, all of which was routine by now, none of it was out of the norm… well up until he got to brushing his teeth...  
  
    He wasn't sure why it came to mind, but halfway through his brushing routine, he looked up, looking himself in the eye in the mirror, he thought back to what Petra asked him a few days ago on the phone while he was dropping Hange off at her lab (something that he made sure to leave as a one time deal)…. But Petra asked if he liked her… There were many people Levi distrusted and even more than he didn't even care enough about to distrust, but he couldn't remember ever being curious about much less someone he was curious about and trusted enough to look after Mikasa… As he brushed his teeth, he had to face facts; he didn't like her particularly, but he didn't hate her… He… He trusted her to some extent, but that didn't mean he wanted to be her friend right?… He watched his toothpaste covered mouth turn into a scowl at the thought of being friends with that slob and he knew the answer… He didn't like her, nor did he hate her, she was just the least asshole-ish landlord he'd ever met and got along fairly well with as a renter… He was 99% sure that all he appreciated was her fairness in their little business deal. That had to be it…  
  
      
  
 **-**  
 **The Next day**  
  
  
    The next morning, Hange awoke to find herself asleep on the couch, her books resting to her side and the blanket she'd brought downstairs with her thrown over her lap as it had been last night.   
  
    "Crap, what time is it?" she mumbled, wiping the drool from her face as she bolted upright, worried that Levi had already gone out for the day and that she was already messing up at babysitting, but she quickly calmed down as the smell of bacon hit her nose, "I guess he's not gone yet?" She mused, "unless the kids were cooking bacon." she snorted… but then she paused, Eren was an ambitious kid, he might have actually tried… In a rush, she clamored to her feet and ran for the kitchen in time to find Levi standing near there stove now looking at her with an expression that was somewhere between shock and disgust.  
  
    "Ahh, I thought you might have been gone already." she smiled giving him a friendly wave.  
  
    "You look fucking gross, you have drool all over your face." he commented quickly, pulling the bacon he was cooking from the pan while her smile fell.  
  
    "Well good morning to you too…" she sniffed in mock offense as she peeked over to what he was cooking, "What are you making?" she asked, walking around to where he was standing and looking over his shoulder. Every muscle in Levi's body tensed up with someone suddenly being so close behind him, he never liked that, it left him too vulnerable.   
  
    "Back up." he growled, the words nearly snapped out as he spoke them and he felt Hange jump back almost right away.  He hadn't meant to yell… He shut his eyes a moment, calming himself down and feeling a bit bad for the way he reacted, and even in her own shock to his reaction she saw the mild regret on his face and chose to shrug it of.  
      
    "Not a morning person then?" she asked lightly, spinning around and yanking the fridge door open.  
  
    "No." he replied, glad that she would just boil it down to that, and that she didn't catch on to how uncomfortable people being physically close to him, made him.  
      
    "I'll keep that in mind." she laughed, grabbing the orange juice from the fridge and taking a long swig from it.  
  
    "Argh!" a sound of distress escaped him as he watched he throw back the drink in one long gulp before wiping her mouth with her arm, "You didn't even brush your teeth!" he snarled, snatching the now nearly empty container from her while she watched him in what looked like genuine confusion about what his problem was.  
  
    "Orange juice after you brush your teeth is gross." she shrugged, "Now hand me that back so I can finish it off if you please." she he'd her hand out expectantly, and he looked down at it in disgust, tempted to throw the container away, just because she was fucking gross… Until he remembered that whether she was gross or not shouldn't matter to him, her manners and apparent lack of common sense shouldn't matter to him… Besides, trashing it would be a waste of money.  
  
    "Whatever." he grunted, shoving the container back in her hands before turning back to the food he was cooking.  
  
    "Why thank you." she smirked triumphantly, leaning back on the counter as she sipped at the contents of the container slower than before as she stood a few steps to the side of Levi, her own curious eyes fixed on the images on tattooed on his arms.  
  
    "What are you staring at?" he grumbled, feeling her intense gaze on him even from the side of his eye.  
  
    "Your tattoos are nice." she commented lightly, taking another swing of orange juice.  
  
    "Don't fuck with me." he grunted over his shoulder irritably.  
  
    "No! No! I'm serious, they're very beautiful." she marveled, squinting her eyes to get a better look at the swirling patterns only wishing that they were friendly enough where she could ask to get an even closer look, but she wasn't going to push her luck, "I don't think I ever noticed before since I was always chasing my brothers around whenever you're around, but when they're asleep I guess I notice these things." she laughed and he watched her from the side of his eye… Other than Mikasa, no one ever really said his tattoos looked nice… He was almost flattered, but he wasn't going to let her know that.  
  
    "Tch should I be louder to wake your brothers up then?" He asked flatly, and Hange nearly snorted orange juice out of her nose at the quip.  
  
    "Good one." she snorted, walking around to toss the now empty container she was holding in the trash.  
  
    "I wasn't joking." he replied dryly, but she only laughed again narrowing her eyes playfully at him.  
  
    "Yeah you were, I can tell." she smirked, before stretching and letting out a satisfied sigh, "Well, guess I better wake the kids up then since you were kind enough to make breakfast before you left and since I'm  the official babysitter of today." she flashed him big cheesy grin and he rolled his eyes, before pointing the spatula in her direction.  
  
    "If anything happens to Mikasa, I'm entitled to kill you, you know." he warned harshly, but now it was her turn to roll her eyes.  
  
    "Oh please, it's not like I'm going to lose them at the zoo or anything, you already had that covered." She flashed him a shit eating grin as his face went red in frustration as he glared at her while she skipped around the corner clearly pleased with herself.  
  
    "She's fricken impossible." he grumbled turning off the stove and checking the clock on the wall… He really had to get out of the door now… He actually hardly had enough time to make this breakfast, but after he tasted Hange's salty ass eggs and burnt food the last time she cooked, he figured that it would be better to just cook it himself so that the kids' sodium didn't go through the roof or some shit. Though he regretted not saying goodbye to Mikasa before he left, he ran to get his jacket and headed for the door in a hurry to get to work, nervous as hell about what he'd come home to when he got back… Maybe he should have just called in sick? No he couldn't afford to lose his job… But the thought of Hange looking after Mikasa? Damn, he would have rather fought off a gang of professional fighters than leave Mikasa in Hange's care… but he didn't have a choice. Grabbing his car keys at the small table by the door, he rushed out of the house, pulling on his jacket as he jogged to the car, mind still full of worry as he went… He had feeling that today would feel like a very long day before he got home.  
  
 **-**  
  
    Levi wasn't the only one who had a long day ahead of them. At fist Hange thought this would be easy to look after the kids, but Hange, as it turned out, ended up having a very long day too. As soon as the kids woke up, they clamored down the stairs and went right for the breakfast Levi had left for them. More eager to play than usual, they scarfed their food down, making more of a mess than usual as the ate before running off to go play.  
  
    "Slow down you guys!" Hange warned as she watched Mikasa and Eren storm off to the living room, laughing the whole time, still chewing the bacon from their breakfast as they went. clearly not listening as they zoomed out of the room.  
      
    "I said slow down!" She called again when she heard that they didn't slow down. Hurriedly, she tried to hurry and wipe down the kitchen to clean up the mess the kids had left behind as Levi usually did after meals.  
  
    "Up! Up!"  Armin demanded, squirming in his high chair as he fought for Hange's attention.  
  
    "One minute, Armin." She called over her shoulder as sweetly and patiently as she could.  
  
    "Up! _uuuuuup_!!!" Armin squealed when he didn't get the result he wanted right away, his face going red as he went on yelling.  
  
    "Uhhh…" Hange stammered, looking from the mess on the counter that she was cleaning to the screaming toddler a short distance away from her.  
  
    " _Uuuuuuuup!_ " Armin cried again, face red and arms high in the air as he called for Hange.  
  
    "Alright, alright!" Hange sighed, tossing the paper towel she was using to wipe the counters to the side as she went right to Armin who ran off to play with Mikasa and Eren right away.  
  
    Right away, Hange went back to trying to clean up the dishes the kids left behind, pushing in the stools and wiping down the counters,… But then she heard a loud crash from the direction of the living room, followed by Armin and Mikasa yelling 'Oooooooooh'  
  
    "Oh my gosh." she sighed heavily, dropping the paper towel again before running off to the living room to hear just what exactly had fallen, "What are you three doing?" She demanded as she rounded the corner to find 2 guilty looking little faces and one terrified green eyed face staring up at her in the living room as they stood in front of a broken vase.  
  
    "I did it!" Mikasa yelled right away stepping forward to protect Eren from the frustrated look on Hange's face.  
  
    "Nuh uh! I did it!" Eren yelled stepping forward as well.  
  
    "Okay okay," Hange sighed looking down at the mess, "We'll figure out who did it later, right now, everyone get away from the glass." Hange started tiredly.  
  
    "Yes." the kids all droned, starting to wander away form the glass… And then Eren tripped and hit the table with another vase placed on it, and it fell and shattered next to him, while Hange could only wince… Yes, today was going to be a very long day if she wasn't careful about it… She needed to get them somewhere that they couldn't break anything, somewhere that they could burn off the extra energy they clearly had today...  
  
    "Okay kids, who wants to go to the park?" She asked as enthusiastically as she could manage and watched as all of their little faces lit up as they cheered like she'd just announced that she was offering them world peace.  
  
    "Alright everyone, go get your shoes then!" She clapped her hands together and watched as they scattered to go get their shoes to bring to her so she could help them get them on, "Okay, I might make it through today." she smiled to herself, proud of her idea to take them to the park, but then she looked around at the shattered vases on the floor and thought to the mess in the kitchen… "I'll just get it when I come back." she mumbled to herself as she went to go start helping the kids with their shoes with every intention of actually getting to it later. Of course, that's not how the day worked out.  
      
    Once the kids got to the park, they didn't want to leave. Hange must have pushed them on the swings for an hour straight, and given them a thousand piggy back rides and helped them across the monkey bars a thousand times, and they _still_ had energy by the time she bought them hot dogs for lunch… And as soon as they finished eating, it was like their batteries recharged and they went back to playing full charge, much to her dismay. They spent the whole day at the park until the sun went down, and even then the kids were sad to leave… In fact, they didn't start acting tired until she rounded them onto some seats on the bus… And then they all fell asleep, meaning she had to carry all three of them inside, a feat that she wasn't even sure how she managed, but she did, and as soon as she got them inside, she took them right to their rooms and tucked them into their beds, dirty clothes, unbrushed teeth and all before she dragged her own tired and aching body down the stairs and flopped down on the couch with every intention of only resting for a second and then getting up to clean… But then sitting felt so nice, and the next thing she knew, she fell asleep….  
  
-  
    "Oi… Wa.. up.." a voice was calling her from the lovely silence of her sleep… But she was sure she was just dreaming or something because it didn't sound complete, "Oi, I said wake up, Four Eyes." the voice called louder and she jumped up with a snort.  
  
    "Wha-? What is it?" She asked, looking around the room in confusion before her eyes landed on the familiar tired, bored, flat grey eyes she was getting used to seeing around the house, "Levi? Did you get off work early?" She asked rubbing her eyes in confusion. The last she checked the time it was only 7:13 p.m, so why was he here.  
  
    "No, it's 1 a.m." he replied looking unamused.  
  
    "No way!" She sat up rod straight as she gawked at him. "I slept that long?" she asked anxiously looking at him in total horror, "The kids!" she nearly shouted about to jump out of her seat, but Levi held out a hand to stop her before she could.  
  
    "I saw them already… I saw the house was a mess, so I went to check on the kids. When I saw Mikasa was in bed with dirty clothes, I checked on Eren and Armin to see them the same." he scowled, his disgust for the state of things clear on his face.  
  
    "I know…" she sighed, "The kids had so much energy today, they kept leaving messes all over and then they broke that stuff-" she sighed flopping tiredly back in her seat, "I tried to take them to the park to tire them out somewhere that they couldn't break stuff, but they fell asleep on the bus so I had to carry them and I just put them to bed because they tired me out." she gushed the words quickly.  
  
    "Sounds a lot like living with you, I should've taken you to the damn park." he quipped dryly while she gave him an unamused look, before sitting up.  
  
    "I'll clean it all up, it's just that I'm tired right now." she yawned, looking up to him with big baggy eyes that the usually painfully energetic woman rarely wore on her face… It was almost enough to make him laugh, she just never seemed like she got tired.  
  
    "Forget it, I'll do it." he replied plainly, to the look on her face.  
  
    "Oh man, I can't ask you to do that, I'd feel bad." she frowned.  
  
    "You're not asking me. I'm offering." he shrugged.  
  
    "You sure?" she asked hesitantly, looking a bit guilty as she looked up to him. Though she did have ever intention on cleaning up, she really didn't want to do it… Cleaning was never her thing.  
  
    "Tch, if I let you clean, you'd do a shitty job anyway." he reminded her and she snorted a quick laugh.  
  
    "You know me so well."  
  
    "It's hard to miss." he droned, and she snorted a laugh, tiredly tilting her head back as she did, letting her head fall back onto the pillows behind her, but she didn't sit back up after that, leaving her head at a weird angle…  
  
    "Hey-" he called, snapping his fingers at her, unsure what the hell she was doing, but he didn't like it… The way she was sitting looked like the way his mother sat after a long night at the bar and she'd come home and flop onto the couch, her neck always bent at too odd of an angle, leaving him to worry that she'd throw up in her sleep and die leaving him all alone… As a kid, he'd always tilt her head to the side so if she got sick, she wouldn't die…   
  
    That past of his was probably why, without thinking, he reached out and tilted Hange's head so that she was at a more comfortable looking angle, but by the time he realized what he was doing, her eyes had flashed partway open and she was staring at him with this look in her eyes, like she could see right through him, and he froze up, mostly because he was unsure of how to explain what he was doing, and partially from that look.  
  
    For a minute, Hange almost questioned him about what he was doing, almost joked that he sure was touchy for someone that didn't like being touched, but something in the borderline panicked look in his eyes that she caught while he readjusted her head signaled to her that he wasn't thinking about her at all… For some reason, what he was doing now was a habit… She wanted to know why, but she could still feel the wall between them that she had been picking away at for a few weeks now and she didn't want him to feel like she was prying… So instead of questioning, she looked him dead in the eye and asked:  
  
    "So, are you okay with this Friday for helping me pull together Eren's birthday, or is that no good?" she asked tiredly as if he wasn't holding her head in his hands as he readjusted her sleeping angle.  
  
    "I can manage that." he replied, letting go of her head, "You look like shit, so go to sleep." his tone was somewhere between ordering and suggesting.  
  
    "Aye aye captain." she replied, somewhat drunk from exhaustion, getting to her feet with a goofy smile.  
  
    "Thanks for taking care of Mikasa. She might be dirty as fuck, but she had a smile on her face when she was sleeping." Levi admitted, his back turned to her as he started to leave the room, "So thanks." he added on the end before heading to the kitchen to clean before she could reply and before his curiosity flared up again… He knew she was weird, but there was no way that she wasn't at least a little weirded out by his actions a moment ago, he would have been… But she looked like she knew that he wasn't trying anything with her somehow… No… He wasn't going to think about this anymore, it wasn't even like it real mattered, she was just his landlord.  
  
    "Night Levi." Hange chuckled under her breath as she watched him somewhat awkwardly shuffle around the corner, "Hahhh." she stretched, "I don't get why he just won't be my friend, we get along so well." she sighed as she got to her feet, "Eh, I'm sure he has his reasons." she shrugged before managing to drag her tired aching body to her room, almost sure that she was way too tired to remember any of this tomorrow. He would though.  
    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had writers block... And I've been crazy busy, but I think I said this before, I'll update as often as I possibly can since I basically know the direction I'm taking this story.


	15. Prep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting ready for a party~

  
  
    The week, for both Hange and for Levi, had been a long week. Hange had been watching the kids for most of the week, only able to squeeze in her own work at the late hours of the night, leaving her tired to the point of being delirious by the end of the week. She'd horribly underestimated the amount of energy that a two year old and two four year olds could generate, and they had been making her pay for it. Levi, on the other hand, had been working overtime all week at the factory he worked and so by the time he got home from work with aching muscles and ringing ears from the machines he worked with, he was wiped out. As much as he loved his little sister, he'd been happy to find her already asleep when he came home from work, already fed and some semblance of bathed, because with how tired he had been the last few days, he barely had enough energy to make it up the stairs, much less tuck her in and read her a bedtime story. He'd been so tired the last few days, that he had been running on auto pilot. He had been so tied up in work that he couldn't remember doing much but eating and sleeping and taking an occasional shit… He didn't know what he ate or when he slept or how the hell he managed to find time to make it to the bathroom, but in his state of auto pilot, he managed to do all of it… And now it was Wednesday night… His boss gave him some paid vacation days for the next three days as a thanks for helping cover all of the extra shifts and Levi had planned to spend those days catching up with Mikasa, maybe taking her to buy some new clothes, and getting tons of sleep… As Levi made his way to his bed that privileged Wednesday night and his face touched the pillow, he could feel his heart skip a beat in anticipation for all of the sleep he was going to get the next few days. In his anticipation for getting some desperately needed sleep, it was like he'd totally forgotten that he'd promised to help Hange set up the birthday party for Eren that Friday, mostly because, well, he had forgotten… All the way up until that next morning.  
  
    There was a light knock on their door… He'd ignored it the first time… There was another knock… He ignored it, then another knock and he shot up in bed to look out of the window and see that the sun wasn't even up yet… The knocking rapped at the door again and Levi cursed under his breath, ready to rip off the hand of whoever was knocking at the damn door when he had already made plans to mostly sleep the day away.  
  
    "Who the fuck is knocking?" he grumbled under his breath, totally forgetting that he'd been living in Hange's house for a little over a month and a half in his state of grogginess as he angrily and quietly made his way to the door before swinging it open, being careful about not waking his little sister.  
  
    "What is it?" he growled, eyes half squinted from his rude awakening as he yanked their door open, irritation leaking through his every pore as he spat out the words.  
      
    "Hiiii~" the tall brown haired person at the door was smiling down at him, her smile looking almost delirious as she looked at him with baggy blood shot eyes. He forgot how tired he was just by looking at her.  
  
    "The hell? When's the last time you slept?" was his first question, to which she only laughed, tilting her head to the side, and nearly tumbling over before catching herself.  
  
    "A few days ago?" she said it as a question, since she actually wasn't sure herself.  
  
    "'A few days ago'?" he repeated as he watched the borderline vacant look in her eyes as she looked down at him.  
  
    "Anyway," she could tell he was about to comment on her lack of sleep, but there was no time for that right now, "we have to start preparing for the party tomorrow, remember?" she smiled, leaning in and whispering the word 'party' so that the kids didn't hear.  
  
    "Yeah?" he replied, a funny look on his face that her tired brain couldn't process at the moment, "And what do you plan on doing when you're too tired to stand up straight?" he asked and as he asked, she realized that she'd still been leaning on the wall for balance and she let go of it, straightening herself out.  
  
    "What do you mean?" she asked innocently, trying to look like she _wasn't_ about to topple over in exhaustion, but she could see doubt in his eyes, so she relaxed her shoulders and let her smile fade into a more neutral expression, "Okay, so maybe I am exhausted," she admitted, "But on the bright side, cleaning the yard and running a few chores shouldn't take too long, especially since Mike wanted to help us clean for Eren's party, and then Nanaba offered help us clean, even Nanaba's roommate is coming to help!" Hange enthused, totally flattered that people cared enough about making a four year old happy to take time out of their day early in the morning to come help her make it the perfect party.  
  
    "Wait, Nanaba's roommate?... Petra?" Levi asked clearly a bit confused.  
  
    "Yeah, you're friends with her right?" Hange suddenly wasn't sure if letting the petite auburn haired woman over was such a great idea now that she looked at the face Levi was making.  
  
    "Friends…" he paused mulling over the word, "Something like that." Levi frowned, hesitant as always to call people his 'friends', but more than that he was confused as to why Petra was involving herself with something like this. Whenever he talked with Petra now, she'd ask about Hange, about how he got along with her, all sorts of unnecessary bullshit that Levi knew she didn't need to know. He was sure Petra had some ideas about Hange and himself that she had no business having, some ideas that might end up bothering Hange or himself if he wasn't careful...  
  
    Hange blinked in silence down at Levi while he looked like he was deep in thought for a moment… What did he mean by 'something like that'? They clearly were friends unless… Hange's sense of curiosity took over her tired brain as she thought back to when she asked Levi if he was dating anyone and he said no, but with the reply he'd just given her to her question about being friends with Petra, Hange got the feeling that he might have liked her or something… But if Hange was remembering correctly, Petra already had a boyfriend, the curly aired guy with the big mou- No… Hange stopped that train of thought before it could go any further after all, it wasn't her business if Levi had an unrequited love… But still pity flashed across her features in a moment that he missed as she looked down at him… The little guy was clearly as socially stunted as he was height stunted and she could tell, so she could only imagine that having an unrequited love had to be very hard for him… Hahh, sucked for him… But her pity didn't change that she had things to do today, so she was quick to change the topic.  
  
    "Uh, anyway, Mike's already here, so I just wanted to know when you wanted to get started." it wasn't so much a question as it was a call to action, and he seemed to figure that out pretty quickly as she watched him give a small sigh, flashing her a flat stare for a moment before turning to go back to the room.  
  
    "Give me a second." was all he simply said before disappearing behind the door, and shutting it lightly, leaving her standing there with a triumphant grin plastered on her face in the hallway.  
  
    "Heh, that was easier than I thought it would be." she grinned, putting her hands on her hips and proudly jutting her chest out. She actually thought Levi would give her a hard time about actually helping her when the day came, but she didn't know why she thought that, up to now he'd been pretty reliable when he said he would do something.  
      
    A huge yawn came forth from her, catching her off guard a moment as she turned to head for the stairs now, and she felt herself tumble a little to the right, nearly falling down the set of stairs, but she caught herself on the wall before she actually took a dive.  
  
    "Close one." she muttered to herself rubbing her eyes and shaking her head a few times to snap out of it, "I'll have to be more careful." she nodded to herself before slowly standing upright and carefully walking down the stairs, taking her time to use the rail and slowly ease her way down the stairs. It was obvious even to her that her body was warning her to get some rest, but as usual. Hange was ignoring it in place for something else she deemed more important, after all, now, there was nothing more important to her than keeping her family together and making her brothers happy. Nothing else mattered to her more than Armin and Eren, not even herself.  
  
    "You okay?" A deep voice called out to her as she reached the bottom of the stairs.  
  
    "Huh?" She asked, a bit spaced out in her own thoughts as she looked up from her feet to see Mike looking at her with a look of concern marring his mustached face, and then she realized he'd probably seen the concentration on her face as she made her way down the stairs, so she straightened herself up again and gave him a friendly smile, "Of course I'm okay, when am I not?" She asked. It was a rhetorical question of course, one the was asked just as there was a knock at the door, "Excuse me, I believe reinforcements have arrived." She joked taking off for the door with a smile and Mike let out a sigh as he watched her go…  
  
    "You say you're always fine," he mumbled to himself as he trailed behind her to the door watching her heavy unusual heavy footsteps as she went, and watched as she opened the door to let in Nanaba and the auburn haired woman that Mike had met before with a big smile… He wondered if he knew that if she smiled that big with those huge bags on her face, it made it even more obvious how hard she was trying to keep it together… But Mike didn't get a chance to think about that for long.  
  
    "Hi Mike!" Nanaba beamed his way, making a beeline for him after greeting Hange and his brain went blank as it had a bad habit of doing whenever Nanaba said more than a word to him.  
  
    "Hello." He managed to reply as Nanaba looked up to him with a calm smile, cute enough to make Mike's face feel hot all the way up to his ears. The sweet unforgettable aroma of fruit hit his nose as Nanaba stood in front of him… It was a smell that he'd know anywhere, a smell that he'd smelled in high school and never forgotten, and that always had the same mind numbing affect on him...  
  
    "I didn't know you were coming to help too." a big grin was flashed Mike's way on Nanaba's nearly pixie like face, his hand found his way to his cheek to hide the warmth that was blanketing his face now.  
  
    "Uh-huh." he nodded trying his best to keep it together. How could he get to know Nanaba better, if a mere smile and small talk had him blushing red up to his forehead? He wasn't usually like this, but somehow Nanaba always had a strong effect on him like that.  
  
    "You okay?" a small mouth pulled into a frown as the question was asked, "You look a little sick." and then Nanaba's hand came his way, a petite yet calloused hand reaching out to meet his forehead for a mere moment, and every cell in Mike's brain died.  
  
    "Gotta-" he muttered in a hurry, turning to leave "Gotta go wash the yard." he managed to throw over his shoulder as he scurried out to the back yard leaving behind a very confused Nanaba who stared at the spot Mike had been standing at a moment ago in confusion.  
  
    "Wash the yard-?" Nope, Nanaba still didn't get the saying… Hange walked over with Petra, having watched the whole awkward exchange, Petra looking to Nanaba with sympathetic eyes, and Hange looking after Mike with confusion.  
  
    "I guess Mike really never did like me very much." Nanaba sighed heavily, whine Hange's brows knit in confusion next to her shorter friend.  
  
    "Weird, he always asked about you over the years… I wonder why he's acting like that now." Hange pondered looking deeply concerned and Petra gawked at them… They really didn't get it did they? It was obvious to Petra that Mike liked Nanaba, but neither of them seemed to see it in the slightest, but before Petra could speak up, Levi came down the stairs, his hair uncombed, his face; grumpy and a little more tired looking than usual, as he looked over the people gathered in the doorway with a flat, unenthusiastic gaze.  
  
    "Oh, I didn't know _you_ were helping." Petra grinned brightly at Levi, to which he rewarded her with a cold stare carrying a warning not to mess with him and she chuckled. Petra knew very well that Levi was not a morning person, which was the biggest reason that she was shocked to see him awake and helping, to her it was a pretty good signal that Levi was warming up to Hange a bit.  
  
    The stupid smile on Petra's face made it pretty clear that she was getting ideas in her head about him warming up to Hange… He'd known her long enough to know the look on Petra's face when she was thinking unnecessary thoughts, so he planned to squish those thoughts as soon as possible.  
  
    "What am I doing?" he asked, ignoring Petra entirely and looking over to Hange so that he could get his tasks, finish them up, and get back to sleeping.  
  
    "Oh right!" Hange jumped, pulling a list out of her pocket, "Nanaba, and Mike are in charge of cleaning the backyard. Picking weeds and taking care of the lawn and stuff," she explained, "Levi and Petra are in charge of the front yard and porch, and I'll be cleaning the house, sorting out the entertainment and picking up the cake."  
  
    "I could have baked a damn cake." Levi mumbled right away, his mouth curling into a frown as he heard the last thing on Hange's list. Petra resisted the urge to laugh at Levi's almost pouty reaction, she was sure that since she was the only one here that knew him for so long, she was the only one who understood that Levi was offended that Hange had bought a cake, to him that was like saying that his food wasn't good enough… Petra _thought_ she was the only one who would get that until Hange spoke up that was.  
  
    "Don't be offended," Hange blinked up to Levi upon seeing his reaction and Petra's eyes went wide,"Your stuff's great, Levi, but you were busy, I didn't want to bother you." Hange shrugged her tone calm and reassuring all at the same time.  
  
    "Hmm." Levi hummed, clearly satisfied with her answer and Petra was more than a bit stunned. Hazel eyes flashed between Hange and Levi as she watched them speaking briefly now over some small details on what she wanted done in the yard… And Petra got it, she saw that Hange understood him, and they'd only known each other for a few weeks… It took Petra months to pick up on things like Hange just had, so how could Hange learn him so well in a matter of _weeks_?! And Levi wasn't half as standoffish and cold to her as he had been with Petra, hell as he had been with _any_ of his friends for the first few _years_ that he knew them… Today. Petra had a goal to try and get Hange and Levi to be more friendly, but they already got along so we-  
  
    "Oi, Petra, did you hear me?." Levi was calling and Petra realized now that she had been staring at Levi and Hange while they spoke.  
  
    "Huh?" Petra stammered dumbly as she looked up to Levi who apparently had been standing in front of her for some time now.  
  
    "I asked if you're ready to start." he was asking for what seemed to be the second time, a questioning look on his face as he looked at her.  
  
    "Oh, yeah! Let's go." She smiled, clapping her hands together in an attempt to look enthusiastic.  
  
    "Good then." Levi shrugged off how weird she was being a moment ago and started off towards the yard with Petra on his heels.  
  
    Hange and Nanaba watched them go, before Nanaba spoke up, "Uhh, are you sure about me working with Mike, I mean I'm okay with it, but I have a feeling Mike won't like it too much." Nanaba laughed looking a bit uncomfortable for a moment and Hange frowned.  
  
    "I don't think he'll dislike it, he doesn't dislike you either, I don't know why he's acting so weird, but if working out doesn't work, you can switch jobs with Petra I guess." Hange joked, giving her smaller friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she spoke, and Nanaba smiled a bit.  
  
    "I think I'll take my chances of working with Mike if my other option is working with Levi." Nanaba replied with a light chuckle and Hange looked at her friend quizzically, tilting her head to the side in her confusion.  
  
    "Why? Levi's not so bad." Hange insisted gently.  
  
    "Well…" a look was sent off in the direction of the small, intimidating man before Nanaba's gaze came back to Hange, "he must not be if you let him stay here." Nanaba nodded looking convinced and Hange smiled to herself, unsure if the brief happiness that came over her was because Nanaba seemed to still trust her judgement even after all these years, or because she was glad that Nanaba was at least open to getting along with Levi, even thought she seemed a bit intimidated by him. Either way, Hange didn't have a lot of time to think about it, since just then Mike came sauntering into the room, but he froze as soon as Hange and Nanaba turned to him and Nanaba flashed Hange a playful smile, "But still, I think I'll take my chances with Mike first." Nanaba chuckled, before taking off quickly after Mike, who was already headed off towards the yard now and in quite a hurry. Hange snorted a laugh to herself as she watched Mike try and dodge Nanaba, as Nanaba tried to explain that Hange asked them to work together.  
  
    Hange laughed to herself as she watched her friends going off after one another, before she let out another big yawn as she turned to look at the clock. It was 5 a.m… She was grateful that so many people showed up so early to help, especially Petra, who really didn't have to come help prepare for a party for a kid she hardly knew… But Hange didn't have time to sit around and get sentimental, not if she didn't want their hard work to go to waste.  
  
    "Alright." Hange stretched her arms high in the air before bringing her hands down to lightly slap her cheeks and wake herself up, "Time to get to work." she nodded to herself before going to start her own work.  
  
**-A few Hours later-**  
      
    "Phew!" a great sigh of relief escaped Hange as she took out the last of the trash that had been in the house… Scouring the internet to find someone that would entertain at the party and _still_ fit into her price range had taken way longer than she thought it would, but eventually she managed to book someone, and was able to get onto cleaning what needed to be cleaning inside of the house, which was quite a task since neither Levi or herself had managed to find much time to clean with how busy they had been… Yes, she thought she could have gone to pick up the cake she ordered by now, but with the sun rising higher in the sky, it was pretty obvious to her that the kids would be up soon, so if she wanted to keep this party a surprise, she'd have to hurry up and get the cake and hide it.  
  
    "Okay." She sighed again to herself, pulling out the bus schedule she had in her pocket before checking it while she stood next to the trash cans, "If I leave out now, I'll miss the bus coming, but I'll be able to get the next bus that comes in ten minutes…" She checked the time on her phone… By the time she got back it would probably be _way_ later if she had to wait on the bus, and the kids would definitely be up by then… Hiding this cake would be difficult, that was for sure. Deep in thought, Hange wiped her brow with the back of her hand and leaned back against the wall to stabilize herself… She was still feeling really weak from lack of sleep, but she was trying to be careful not to push herself to hard, the last thing she needed was another incident like the one at the zoo… Eren didn't let her out of his sight for a full week after that, besides,  who had time for passing out when they were planning a party?  
      
    "Guess I better get ready to go then…" She muttered to herself pushing her weight off of the wall and turning to go back to the house and get her keys, but as she turned someone came around the corner with a bag full of trash in hand and a torn look worn across their face.  
  
    "Oh, hey Levi." Hange smiled as he walked towards her with the trash he was carrying in hand.  
  
    "Hmm." he hummed in response, "Who knew you had a shitty habit of standing around and talking to the trash?" he muttered glumly, walking around her to throw out what he had been carrying, and Hange snorted a laugh.  
  
    "I wasn't talking to the trash, I was talking to myself." she chuckled, burying the bus schedule that she'd been holding in her pocket, while Levi turned in time to see her do it.  
  
    "Did you go pick up the cake yet?" he asked suddenly, his voice a little more rough than usual.  
  
    "Oh, I was about to do that now…" Hange trailed off studying his face… He was acting a little strange, even as tired as she was she could tell.  
  
    "I'll drive you." and she blinked at him in total and utter confusion now and he frowned under her shocked gaze, "You'd rather take the bus then?"  
  
    "No no!" She blurted, her hands flying out on front of her, "I'll accept the ride, thanks." As tired as she was, she would take any option that involved the less walking, and she figured questing him wasn't a good way to secure her ride.  
  
    "Good, I need to get the hell out of here." he muttered under his breath before heading towards the house in a hurry.  
  
    "Huh?" Hange asked, totally confused now, "Why do you need to get out of here? Did something happen?" she asked walking up behind him now… She hadn't seen the yard so she was actually a bit worried that something happened or someone messed it up or something.  
  
    "It's nothing." Levi muttered over his shoulder as he breezed through the house, Hange right on his heels as he gathered his keys, "You ready?" he turned and asked her and she nodded, not understanding the agitated look on his face at all.  
  
    "Yeah." she nodded, her brows knit in confusion as she followed him out of the house. As they passed to where Levi kept his car parked on the side of the house, they passed Mike, Nanaba and Petra who were now standing in the shade of the side of the house and chatting and laughing together, not even noticing Levi and Hange until Levi got in the car and slammed the driver's side door shut. Hange cringed along with the othersas the door shut… He always yelled at her not to do that, so what the heck got under his skin that he was doing it? A few hours ago, he'd been fine! Their friends turned and looked at them with questioning glances before Hange waved at them with a forced smile.  
  
    "We're going to get the cake, we'll be back!" she smiled over to them and they waved back with hesitant smiles on their faces, their eyes still on Levi, and when Hange climbed into the car, she noticed one person wasn't smiling at all; Levi.  
  
    Without so much as acknowledging the others, he threw his car into reverse and sped out of the spot so quickly the tires screeched against the road before he peeled down the street so fast that the house was out of sight in a matter of seconds.  
  
    "Hey, I like fast driving and all, but you do know kids live in this neighborhood right?" Hange spoke up once they pulled up to a red light and Levi's ride of terror was forced to an end lest he risk getting a ticket.  
  
    "Tsk." was all he replied with as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, his eyes impatiently on the light.  
  
    "So what was it that pissed you off?" she asked inquisitively, and he cut her a look from the side of his eye.  
  
    "And what the hell makes you think I'll tell you even if something was wrong?" he asked, still agitated from some reason unknown to her, but she only gave him a smile.  
      
    "Because I'm the only one here?" she offered and he almost laughed at the doofy smile on her baggy eyed face… But he was too annoyed to even laugh.  
  
    "It's nothing." he sighed, raking one hand back through his hair, the other hand still busy tapping fingers against the wheel.  
  
    "Aww, come on now, it's not like I'd tell anyone." she smiled again, a little wider now and he frowned… She didn't know it, but she was the reason that he was upset. The whole time he was cleaning the yard, he was stuck with Petra, who as usual, was asking relentless questions about Hange; if she was doing okay, if he was being nice to her, all sorts of shit that Levi wasn't in the mood for when he was tired, but he;d been too tired to even get annoyed, so for the most part, he ignored her questions… Up until Nanaba and Mike came around the corner. The two were chatting with little grins on their faces and an interest in their eyes that was so obvious that even Levi noticed it… Those two had a thing for each other… But as far as Levi knew, Hange and Mike were still together… It irritated him…  
  
    "Fine, don't tell me if you don't want to tell me." Hange spoke next to him, sitting back in her seat now with a small shrug while he watched her from the side of his eye. He didn't want to get involved… He really _really_ didn't want to get involved but- A great yawn came out of Hange and she rubbed her eyes clearly trying to wake herself up a bit… She was working her ass off right now to try and make her brothers happy, and she was tired, but she wouldn't complain… The night he saw her at the club, he was sure that she was working for money to take care of her brothers even though she clearly didn't want to be there, but she never complained… She'd been fair to him as a landlord and seemed well liked by everyone she met, even by Petra who disliked most of Levi's female friends for some reason he never took the time to learn. Basically, Hange was a giver, she gave a lot of herself, so staying quiet when he could see her boyfriend start to turn away from her during a time she could probably need him the most seemed like a really shitty thing for him to do in Levi's perspective, and he'd know… The girl he'd been involved with in high school cheated on him and left him once he started taking care of Mikasa… It might have been more upsetting to him if he hadn't been so busy back then, but he was all too aware that Hange's situation was different than his was… He thought to tell her that her boyfriend might not be any good, but it was like he could hear her crying in his head all over again, he could see her face red, puffy and tear streaked and he knew this time if she cried, she would make sure it was alone… He couldn't actually bear to tell her if he thought about it that way.  
  
    "You sure you don't want to tell anyone? Even if it's not me." Hange was asking and he blinked looking over to her realizing that he'd been in his own thoughts for so long that they were almost at the bakery that she'd brought him to before, "You look really upset," she pointed out looking genuinely concerned… and for a second, he considered just telling her, sure she might have cried and been upset, but it was better to know the truth of the situation, right? His lips parted as he started to tell her, but right as he started to speak, he saw her bolt upright in her seat with a huge smile on her face.  
  
    "The store is right up there!" She called out loud enough to almost make him jump, "Geez, seriously I owe you one for giving me a ride… Seems like I owe you quite a bit." she snorted looking a twinge regretful, "I've got to make it up to you one of these days." she nodded with a thoughtful smile, more to herself than to him, but he still replied.  
  
    "I don't need your shitty thanks." he tried to say it coldly, but he was too tired to even attempt to play the role of a jerk today, so his words came out sounding significantly more gentle than usual.  
  
    "Of course you don't." she laughed climbing out of the car, "I'll be right back." she beamed down to him before scampering off towards the bakery. He watched her go feeling bit bad that she was running around looking happy like that when back at the house her boyfriend was probably making eyes at that 'Nanaba' person. It was clear that Hange thought of Mike and Nanaba as her friends, but if they were okay with going around behind her back even knowing how hard of a time she was having… They were shitty people, and Levi's tolerance for shitty people was awfully low when he was tired… They better not have crossed his path today.  
  
**-**  
**15 Minutes later**  
**-**  
  
    "There that should be the perfect spot for hiding it." Hange smiled proudly as she placed the cake in the freezer. Levi watched the proud smile that crossed her face when she shut the freezer door while he cooked breakfast for the kids who they were both sure would be up any moment.  
  
    "The cake will taste like the freezer." He commented darkly… In the end, he still hadn't told her about Mike and Nanaba and he was no longer sure if Mike treating Hange like Levi himself had been treated in the past was what was upsetting him, or if that the thought of Hange crying if he told her even bothering him was upsetting him. Either way, he was upset, but he was trying not to show it.  
  
    "Well, I don't have too many other places to put it." she frowned to herself, "Besides, the kids can't reach the freezer so I think it'll be okay." she shrugged sitting down on the floor and laying on her back.  
  
    "What the hell are you doing? Levi asked, significantly less alarmed by her actions than he might have been a few weeks ago, and now only mildly curious..  
  
    "I think I'm all out of gas." she groaned miserably on the ground, "I just realized I've been working all week on seven hours of sleep, and I haven't eaten in a day and a half." she blinked blankly at the ceiling now, "One or more of those actions might have been a grave mistake." she heaved out a breath, her face looking paler by the minute.  
  
    "You just realized that was a bad idea now?" he asked with an arched brow as he watched her nod up at him with a light smile on her face.  
  
    "I was busy." she shrugged, "but I wanted to make sure Eren's party tomorrow would be perfect." a smile crossed over her face, "I think the kids deserve it. It might be Eren's day, but Mikasa and Armin could use a fun day too. I remember you told me you two got kicked out…" Hange sighed thoughtfully, "I can't imagine it was easy for you or Mikasa, so I thought it would be nice to take a break tomorrow." Levi cringed as he watched her shrug on the floor and he wondered how many germs her shoulder was mopping up, but he knew she didn't care… Not about things like that…It must have been because he was so tired, but he was a little moved by how much she cared about Mikasa even though Mikasa wasn't her responsibility… He studied her face as she shut her eyes on the floor, taking a moment to enjoy the cool tiles against her skin in the warm room.  
  
    "And what about you? You're saying all this shit about taking a break, but you look like you're willing to work yourself to death." he scowled down at her, watching as a curious, sly smile crawled onto her face now, "What?" he asked irritably.  
  
    "You worried about me?" she asked feeling pleased that the ever grumpy little man might be worried about her when the only things she'd seen him worry about up to this point were Mikasa and the state of cleanliness in the house.  
  
    "Tch, you wish." he grunted back in response, snuffing her smile out.  
  
    "Yeah, I guess it was wishful thinking." she sighed tiredly again tilting her head back on the floor and rubbing her tired eyes for the hundredth time that morning.  
  
    "Wishful thinking?" he asked slowly, "Why are you so hell bent on being my friend anyway? We don't have shit in common and I might be gone at the end of this three months, why bother?" he grumbled, flipping the fried eggs that he had been cooking as he asked the question, genuinely curious at this point, and too tired to act like he wasn't curious.  
      
    "Why?" she repeated, not sure if him asking the question, or if the question itself was more strange, "Well I guess I think you're nice."  
  
    "Hah." He let out a laugh at that one that caught him so off guard that he almost dropping the pan he was holding. Hange propped herself up on her elbows in confusion.  
  
    "What's funny?"  
  
    "You think I'm nice; more proof that you don't know shit about me. Save yourself the trouble, kid, be someone else's friend…" he trailed off his gaze falling to the window where he saw Nanaba and Mike still chatting outside, leaning in as they spoke as if the other held the secret of the universe, "Or better yet, get your relationship in order." he muttered far too low for her to hear.  
  
    "Hahh, why are you so stubborn? And why'd you call me 'kid'? I'm not Eren or Mikasa or Armin you know, we're probably about the same age give or take." she protested.  
  
    "I'm 22."  
  
    "Like I said give or take." she shrugged, "I'm 21 so it's not so different. We're still way to young to be in charge of a kid all on our own…" she muttered the last part glumly… As much as she loved her brothers and would do anything for them, she still felt lost, she still wished she had the guidance of her parents, but she would never have anything like that in her life again, and that was a realization that she constantly fought off.  
  
    Levi paused his cooking for a second… If he thought about it, she was right… He was always s busy taking care of Mikasa that he never really let it sink in that he was awfully young to take care of a kid all on his own. It was something he knew by now that he was capable of though… But if he was in Hange's shoes, being 21 with two kids suddenly looking at you to take care of them… He'd be pretty nervous about the thought of doing it alone…  
  
    "Is that why you want to be friends?" he asked flatly, "You're just looking for a partner in arms or some shit?"  
  
    "Partner in arms…?" she hummed thinking over the words, "Hmm, maybe that is it. How bad is it to have someone to relate to at least on the big stuff like the kids." she chuckled, "Besides, as much as you say you don't want the kids to get used to staying here, you already are a pretty solid part of the household you know, I mean you cook and clean and Eren and Armin like you a lot… I know you said you want to keep distance for the sake of the kids, but I think it's a bit late for that." she sighed, and he sighed too… It was something he'd actually realized not to long ago… He'd only been here 5 weeks and he was already as used to Eren and Armin being around as they were used to him… And Mikasa liked Hange a lot too.  
  
    "Yeah, I noticed…" he groaned, "I have to work on that." he sighed, pulling down some plates to start serving breakfast on, while Hange stretched out on the floor.  
  
    "Or you could just stay." she yawned, "I have no objections, I like you being around, it's fun." she admitted.  
  
    Levi was shocked for a moment… No one ever called him fun… A stick in the mud, a party popper, an asshat, uptight, boring… All of those he got, hell most of them he heard from his friends when he couldn't go party with them… But for a long time no one called him 'fun', he couldn't even think of why she would.  
  
    Turning his head, he looked back at he in time to see her struggling to sit up in her tired state, flopping around like a fish out of water.  
  
    "Just go to sleep, before you crack your head on the floor." he sighed, taking the chance to change the topic entirely. While he was flattered that she enjoyed his company, something about how friendly everyone was getting was making him uncomfortable.  
  
    "Ahh…" Hange groaned laying on her back again, "I'll sleep when I'm dead." she groaned, and as if on cue Eren walked into the room rubbing the sleep out of his eyes in time to hear Hange's statement.  
  
    "Eren!" she exclaimed bolting up now as she saw the horrified look frozen on his face.  
  
    "D-dead? Don't die, Hange!" He cried out in terror as he shot out towards Hange wrapping his arms in a vice grip around her neck.  
  
    "I-I'm not going to die, but loosen your grip a little." she choked out patting her brother's back steadily.  
  
    "That's what you get for saying stupid stuff like that." Levi pointed out with no sympathy for the choking woman as he took the plated food he'd just finished to the dining room for everyone to eat, leaving her to calm down a crying Eren…  
  
    Just as he placed the plates down on the table, he heard the front door open and shut, and in came Mike, strolling around as if he were on cloud nine and had no cares in the world… a stark difference from Hange, who constantly looked like all of the worries in the world weighed down on her, but it seemed like Mike didn't give two shits about Hange once _Nanaba_ showed up… Levi might not have been able to say anything to Hange, but he sure as hell found himself storming over to Mike to say something to him.  
  
    "Hey." Levi called out, marching over to Mike, who was standing by the door still.  
  
    "Oh, hey Levi." Mike smiled a happy, almost airy smile and Levi rolled his eyes.  
      
    "Hange's been working her ass off the last five weeks." Levi started right away, ignoring the confused look on Mike's face and aiming to get right to it, "I'm not going to beat around the fucking bush. In the last five weeks I've watched her try and fight a psychopath to get money for her brothers, pass out at a zoo, take in a total fucking stranger and his sister just for steady income, work her ass off at a paid internship, have a total fuming mental melt down and still manage to keep it together enough to single handedly support her brothers with her efforts because she doesn't want to fucking lose them. Hell even now she's planning this damn party for the kids when she's tired as hell from doing me a favor, she's fucking crazy and needs some serious help." he explained firmly ignoring the silently horrified look that now on Mike's face.  
  
    "S-she… All of that-?" Mike stammered, totally caught off guard by everything Levi'd just told him… Out of all of the things Levi said, Mike only knew a bit of it since she never told him anything since she always thought she could handle everything alone and never asked for help unless someone did in her place when they saw her struggling enough… And it seemed to Mike that Levi saw her struggle enough…  
  
    "Yeah, she did all that shit." Levi grunted, sending a cold look up at Mike, "Like I said, she needs help and it ain't my place to give it to her, so I suggest you take care of your damn girl." Levi nearly snarled the words up to the taller man and Mike's eyes went wide behind his thick bangs… That certainly was a strange way for Levi to refer to Hange when she was just his friend, but all the same, Levi was right, she needed help… Not that Levi stuck around to hear Mike admit that. Once Levi said his piece, he'd headed up the stairs, tired and sweaty from all of the work he'd done today and annoyed from having to involve himself with Hange's personal life… He was going to shower, and then sleep all of this shit off. He figured he'd need the rest anyway since tomorrow would be a pain in the ass…  Hange told him she'd invited those stuck up parents from the preschool to bring their kids and he'd need all the sleep he could get to deal with them tomorrow.  
  
    Dragging his feet, he somehow managed to make it to the door leading to his shared room with Mikasa, the only thing on his mind being his shower, but hell he was so tired the he might have skipped it to go to bed. Turning the doorknob, he pushed the door open, and looked into the room before letting out a groan.  
  
    "What are you doing here?" he asked the auburn haired woman who was sitting on the edge of his bed. She only smiled at his question, crossing her legs and batting her eyes at him.  
  
    "What do you _think_ I'm doing here?" she asked, her tone mocking flirtatious and he rolled his eyes.  
  
    "Don't fuck with me Petra, or should I call Oulo?" he threatened and watched as she got to her feet in a rush.  
  
    "No need to do that! I was just messing with you, geez." she crossed her arms, letting out an irritated huff.  
  
    "Why did you come here?" Levi asked instinctively. There was no way she came here just to mess with him… Then again her doing something like that wasn't so far fetched either.  
  
    "Well, I was coming down the stairs earlier and I heard you sticking up for Hange, I was just wondering what possessed the Levi do something like that." She smiled, but even she could hear the twinge of jealousy in her own voice.  
  
    "Why does it matter?" he asked, going through his dresser to gather his clothes to change into.  
  
    "Just wondering why you care so much about Hange." Petra shrugged honestly.  
  
    "I don't."  
  
    "Oh yeah you do!" She accused with a laugh.  
  
    "I really don't."  
  
    "Then why bother standing up for her?" Petra pressed on, and Levi tilted his head back in exasperation. He was too tired for this shit, he just wanted to sleep and right now, he would say whatever it took for her to go away and drop the topic or him and Hange before Petra started bothering Hange about stupid shit too.  
  
    "Petra…" he started, turning now to look back at her and take her shoulders firmly in his hands, "I'm going to say this once, so listen very carefully." he started, a harsh expression fighting to stay off of his tired face, leaving Petra only able to nod, a bit taken aback by his sudden closeness.  
  
    "O-kay?" she managed, blinking up to him in shock.  
  
    "For awhile now you've been asking me about her like I give a shit, you keep making a big deal about little things, so I should tell you know before you keep fussing over nothing: I don't give a shit about her, or her brothers, or anything having to do with her, she's _just_ my dumbass landlord, so whatever idea you've got buzzing around in your head about me 'caring about her' or any other dumb shit… Drop it." he poked her hard on the middle of her forehead, his eyes cold and boring down into hers with one thing reflected clearly in them; the fact that he was telling the truth.  
  
    "…Levi…" Petra mumbled, brows pulling together… Was she really just imagining things? Was she really reading into little things too much? She must have been because as Levi turned to go back to what he was doing, it really seemed like he couldn't have cared less about Hange, "Fine." Petra sighed feeling a bit defeated, "I'll go." she slumped her shoulders, making her way to the door, knowing all too well that Levi wasn't going to protest her leaving.  
  
    Yes… She really must have read too much into him caring about anyone but Mikasa or at least she couldn't help but think that as she stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind her, but right as she pulled the door shut she heard the door next to Levi's room shut at the same time… Petra blinked at the door in confusion… Had she imagined it? She had to have, "Ugh,I guess I'm not a morning person either, it seems like I'm imagining a lot of things today…" she muttered to herself, starting off down the stairs to get ready to go home and have a long talk with Nanaba about Mike and Hange's relationship.  
  
**-**  
    Meanwhile Hange stood with her back against the door, the words she'd heard from staring on the other side of Levi's door holding his keys that he'd forgotten on the counter when he walked away earlier tightly gripped in her hands… She wasn't trying to listen in, it just happened, but she heard him, she heard him say it; 'I don't give a shit about her, or her brothers, or anything having to do with her, she's _just_ my dumbass landlord'.  
  
    She hadn't heard anything before or after those words as she tired to process what he'd said… but either way it was pretty clear that he had one strong reason for not wanting to be her friend: Petra.  
  
    Yes, that had to be it, Petra must have been worried about Levi living here, but then… Petra still had that big mouthed guy with the curly hair she was dating… So while Hange was thinking Levi was in an unrequited love… Could it have been he was in a secret relationship all along?  
  
    "Ah, as if raising a 4 year old alone isn't dramatic enough." Hange shook her head feeling a little bad for Levi, and a little worried about his decision making skills… Unless what he'd said was true and he really didn't like her at all and he was just tolerating her to keep is new living situation…?  
  
    "No, no…" Hange muttered to herself, "It doesn't matter either way… It changes nothing." she sighed, as much as she would have liked to be Levi's friends, she had bigger concerns and… Levi… Didn't matter that much... Whether what he was saying was to save his relationship that he was in with Petra behind their friend's back, or whether he meant what he said about her just being his dumbass landlord, what she'd over heard made one thing very clear: she'd have to stop trying to be his friend, or risk her life and her brother's lives getting more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god, it took me forever to write this, forgive me... I plan to start having things get a little more... interesting(?) soon so if you're okay with my painfully slow updates, stick around, and thanks for reading :)


	16. Party! (Part 1: Pre-party & they don't care)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day of the party, and Levi's feeling good... Hange on the other hand... Not so much.

  
    There was vomit on his shoes… Oulo and Petra were arguing very loudly… Nanaba and Mike were looking for Hange… Hange was looking for Eren… Mikasa was fighting with some kid at the party… Armin was crying… Parents were starting to walk out with their kids, and the birthday cake was smashed on the ground… And to think that morning Levi woke up thinking that nothing could go wrong today; this was why he'd never been an optimistic man.  
  
-  
**Earlier that day**  
**-**  
  
    Levi woke up that morning feeling way more rested than he had the day before, which was understandable since all he'd done yesterday was sleep save for the two times he woke up and made meals for the others, before going right back to sleep. He didn't talk to anyone after yesterday morning, he didn't see anyone after yesterday morning, and the only person he would have awoken for would have been Mikasa, and even she didn't disturb his rest, so whatever might have happened in the house yesterday, he had no idea, and he wasn't sure if that was a blissful or worrisome thing.  
  
    Swinging his feet off of the side of the bed, Levi took a nice long stretch; the rest made him feel… different, he felt more refreshed than he could ever remember feeling in a _very_ long time… Was this how _normal_ people with healthy sleep schedules felt? It had to have been illegal to have felt this alert and aware; the world looked brighter, he felt more light, like he could make it through the day without nodding off once or twice. He felt, dare he think it; positive, so much so that he almost smiled as he got out of bed. Why he felt so positive was probably a little more than the rest he'd gotten, what Hange offered the other day played a part in his mood as well.

It seemed that she genuinely had no problem with him staying here, and though he'd been thinking to move out at the end of he three months when he first moved here, he had yet to start looking for anywhere else to stay, so staying here might have been a necessity for a little longer. Living here wasn't too bad anyway, he didn't mind the cooking and cleaning, in fact he was glad to have control of those aspects of the house work, and the price he was staying here for was so good that he got a chance to get back on his feet, so it was win win for him… Besides, Hange wasn't a bad landlord, he had to admit that, she was more like a weird neighbor than anything but he was surprised that he could admit that he was getting used to her… But there was no time to sit around in bed pondering his life situation; he had things to do today, he knew Hange would probably need his help putting the finishing touches on a few things before the party started this afternoon.  


* * *

  
    After brushing his teeth and taking a quick shower, Levi walked back into the room he shared with Mikasa to see her still sleeping and their laundry piling up in the corner. It would bother him all day if he didn't take care of the laundry and he knew it… Taking a quick peek at the time, he decided that he had enough time between that moment and when Hange told him the party was going to start to do the laundry and put it away before that time, besides, as refreshed as he was feeling after all of that sleep, he felt like he could take on the world, so what was a little laundry? He quickly gathered up the fabric bag that held his and Mikasa's laundry, and slipped her scarf from her vice grip as he left the room. As he went down the stairs, the bright red scarf stared at him from the top of the pile of clothes as he walked. He was glad he was getting a chance to wash the scarf, since getting Mikasa to hand it over even just to be washed was a very difficult task, but he didn't get why she was so attached to it. She told him before that Eren had given it to her, and while Levi knew Eren was a good kid, he still didn't understand why Mikasa was so attached to the thing… As far as he could tell it was just a stinky red piece of cloth, then again, he'd never much been one for sentimental value, unlike his sister apparently…  
  
    Lost in thought, Levi rounded the corner after the staircase carrying his clothes, and he nearly tripped over an unexpected obstacle that had been left carelessly on the ground.  
  
    "Shit!" He hissed quietly, as he caught sight of the obstruction and moved around it just in time to avoid stepping on it. Over the pile of clothes, he couldn't really see what it was he nearly stepped on, so when he heard it groan, he was a bit alarmed, until he caught sight of a glint from the simple oval shaped glasses and a sweatsuit; an attire that only one person in this household seemed to wear almost religiously.  
  
    "What the hell?" he put his clothes aside on a pile on the ground as he looked down at his strange landlord who had smudges of red, blue and green on her cheeks and clothes, and dried clumps of paint in her hair. He looked to the area in front of where she was laying on the ground and saw a large poster that read 'Happy Bir-" the rest of the sign was clearly incomplete. He didn't have to wonder what she was it was she was doing down here, the half done sign made it obvious. He looked her up and down from where she was lying on the floor, about to mumble about how dirty she was for sleeping there, but the thought died in his mind as he saw the red paint that was trailing down her arms… He didn't like the look, it reminded him too much of the night she'd broken down, and he didn't like that remembering that night upset him either.  
  
    At the sound of Levi's moving around, Hange grumbled and sat up on the floor. Levi could still see bandages around her still healing fingers, he remembered how nasty the wounds were, though it probably wasn't half as bad as her emotional damage if all of her crying had been any indicator… Damn... He hated that he still thought about that, the night was done and gone, neither of them brought it up after she thanked him and he wasn't going to bring it up again, but he hated remembering that night all the same, though it was pretty clear that the incident from a few weeks ago was the last thing on Hange's mind as she shot up now, with a newfound sense of urgency.  
  
    "Ohmygoshwhattimeisit?!" She asked so hurriedly that it sounded like one word, her eyes two bloodshot orbs as they flashed around the room behind her glasses.  
  
    "8:15 a.m." Levi answered flatly, and this news seemed to fluster her even more.  
  
    "What?! It's morning?" she demanded, getting to her feet so quickly that she almost stepped on her sign, but Levi grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him before she could… He regretted that almost immediately. Hange's elbow shot out the moment she felt his hand around her forearm, and landed square in the middle of his chest with enough force to wind him.  
  
    A pained dry cough escaped him and he took a step back sending a wordless icy glare her way, "What the hell, Hange?" He rasped as his hand grasped at the spot she'd just injured. She had a feeling she must of hit him pretty hard for him to react that strongly, but she couldn't feel entirely bad. Sure she hasn't meant to actually knock the wind out of him like that, she had however meant to make space between them. After what she'd heard him say the night before, the last thing she wanted was him even pretending to give a flying fart about her life, not when she knew it would just lead to him talking about her behind her back later.  
  
    "You okay?" She asked flatly, feeling obliged to ask that much, but he was straightening himself out pretty quickly, as if he'd taken a million hits like that before.  
  
    "Peachy." he frowned at her as he stood up and got a better look at the poster she'd half painted. She didn't really pay him much mind as he watched it, and instead hurriedly dug through her pockets, looking for a list of things she had to complete today before the party… There was the frozen pizzas she'd have to start cooking before the party for the kids, the decorations she had to put up, and finish the banners, there was a lot! She raked her hand down her face in frustration with herself… How did she fall asleep? She knew how much she had to do, all she had to do last night was finish the banner since almost everyone else stayed late into the night to help her with the decorations…  
  
    Recognizing her unspoken distress from the panicked look that crossed her face Levi spoke up; "You need help with the poster don't you?" he sighed looking over the half done thing.  
  
    "What?" she asked almost agitatedly at his offer.  
  
    "I asked if you needed someone to do your poster." he sighed, missing the irritation in her tone to his own thoughts. Sure he wanted to do laundry, but Hange helped him out a lot this week, she was good to Mikasa and had been fair with him, and Levi somehow doubted that Mike would be running over here anytime soon since Nanaba was around, after all; Levi had never met a cheater that was quick to reform their ways, and it was quickly becoming clear to Levi that Hange was the kind of person who would run herself into the ground if no one stopped her, and none of her friends seemed to be stepping in so as much as he hated it, it seemed like he would have-  
  
    No, it's fine, I'll do it." Hange grumbled, her eyes going from the poster to the paint that was slathered all over her arms and shirt as she spoke, and with that she took off in a hurry so that she could go wash off the paint that was on her skin and hair. She didn't say goodbye to Levi when she left the room. It might have been petty, but she figured she didn't really have to waste her breath with proper parting words with him since she was 'just his dumbass landlord'… It wasn't like his words bothered her so much because it was true; they really were just landlord and tenant for all intents and purposes but- She gave her head a vigorous shake as she went up the stairs to knock the thought from her head. The night before she'd already decided that she was going to make no more moved to get any closer to him since he clearly had no interest in making new friends, and she had no interest in carrying a potentially hollow friendship. When it came to him, she couldn't care, so storming off and leaving him to stand there alone, she didn't care about that either.  


* * *

  
  
    Levi stood at the bottom of the stairs with a confused look on his face. He was a bit shocked that she took off so quickly, it seemed like she always was trying to talk his ear off another time, but this time she took off wordlessly and in a hurry. With a shrug he collected his basket of clothes again, figuring that she was only acting that was because she was so busy with the party, and he let it go… Well all the way up until he heard heavy footsteps coming back down the stairs while he was bent picking up the basket of clothes from the floor.  
  
    "What did you leave this time?" He asked over his shoulder. He knew she left too quickly before, she probably left something behind in her rush, but the reply he got was not at all what he expected.  
  
    "I left something?" A deep voice that was definitely not Hange was asking, and Levi turned to see Mike standing at the bottom of the stairs with baggy eyes, obvious bed head and a very confused expression as he looked down at Levi.  
  
    For a rare moment, Levi was shocked speechless; he had no clever remark, no snide comment, not even a thought of good morning as he looked up to a confused Mike who was still waiting for Levi to explain.  
  
    "I thought you were Hange, I didn't realize that you were still here." Levi cleared his throat and replied after a moment that went on for far too long, but if Mike noticed just how shocked Levi really was, he didn't let it show.  
  
    "She still had stuff to do for Eren's party. Figured I should stay to help." Mike shrugged, looking around at the poster and half finished decoration on the floor that Hange had scrambled away from not too long ago, "I thought about what you said the other day." Mike admitted after a thoughtful moment, "She always pushes people away, it's hard to tell when she needs help, but I should at least be there." Mike let out a heavy sigh, a guilty look crossing his face. As much as Mike worried for Hange, he'd thought that giving her space might be the best way to let her heal, but after hearing everything she'd been through in the last few weeks, Mike was suddenly regretting haven given her too much space, and he was determined to make up for it.  
  
    "I see." Levi replied, a bit surprised to see that Mike was cleaning up his act so quickly. Levi didn't expect to really feel anything about Hange's boyfriend getting his shit together, hell if anything he thought he'd be a bit glad for her since it meant he might see even less of her, but he didn't expect the dull feeling of dread that pulsed in his stomach. "Gotta finish my laundry." Levi grumbled after a moment before turning and leaving Mike.  
  
    "No problem." Mike shrugged in response, Levi still wasn't 'mister warm and fuzzy', so it wasn't like Mike expected him to hang around, besides, Mike figured he should start putting some of the decorations up so that Hange had less to do later. Helping with a few decorations was the least Mike could do for his friend, the friend he didn't know had been struggling as much as she had been, so since Mike was doing this for his friend, he was more than a little shocked when Levi emerged from the basement after putting his laundry to wash, and began helping with the decorations as well. Neither of them said a word as they put up some of the banners and streamers and painted the signs that were half done, but Mike couldn't help but wonder why the man who seemed to deny wanting to have anything to do with Hange, always seemed to be going out of his way to help her…  


* * *

  
**Some Time Later**  
  
    "Wow! How'd you get this stuff up so quickly?" Hange gushed as she came down the stairs, towel drying her hair as she spoke. She hadn't spent much time in the shower since even there she could only think about how she was going to get this party done in such a short amount of time, so when she descended the stairs to see the decorations already hung, and the banners painted to completion, she couldn't help but smile as she came down the stairs to see Mike putting up the last of the posters that read; 'Happy Birthday Eren!'.  
  
    "Levi helped." Mike shrugged, but he was shocked by the grimace that briefly crossed Hange's face at the news. Her frown was only there a moment as she obviously put her all into hiding it, before she flashed Mike another big smile.  
  
    "Well, at least that's one thing off my list." she grinned, figuring that was a safe answer. It wasn't that she wouldn't have liked to tell Mike about what she heard Levi saying about her, but the timing was bad, she wanted to focus on the party, not on having to talk Mike down from flooring Levi, so she kept Levi's harsh words to herself, and instead offered Mike a cup of coffee or something to eat.  
      
    "Coffee's good, black please." Mike requested as he got to work hanging up the last few posters.  
  
    "No problem." Hange beamed back at him before going towards the kitchen feeling grateful that Mike was her friend. He really was a great guy, he stayed the night so that he could help her finish up whatever she couldn't get done on her own, she wasn't sure how she could've gotten all of this down without his help.  
  
    Wandering into the kitchen, Hange pondered about whether or not she should get started on baking the frozen pizzas she'd picked up the day before now, or if she should wait for later, but all of her idle thoughts came to a halt as she entered the kitchen and found Levi standing near the stove pouring water for what she assumed was his morning cup of tea. As if sensing her he turned to face her in mid-step, pausing and staring at her as she did to him for a moment that spanned on into the range of being awkward before he spoke up.  
  
    "Did you need something?" he asked flatly.  
  
    "I need the coffee maker, you're in the way." the tone of her response was all but glacial as looked at him with this glance that could freeze a bonfire. Dumbly, Levi turned and found that he was in fact standing in front of the coffeemaker from where he was standing near the countertop, but something was wrong, she was acting strangely.  
  
    "Right…" Levi replied, slowly stepping out of her way so that she could get to the coffeemaker. She didn't say a word as she hurried over to the coffeemaker and began to brew some. He watched her as she worked… She really was acting strangely, she was never so cold. He might have written it off to her being tired or stressed, but he knew that wasn't it; she was fine yesterday, and Levi'd heard her gushing with Mike about the signs a moment ago, sounding as chipper as ever, so he was sure that she wasn't in a generally bad mood and it wasn't something Mike had done, but he did notice that her cold expression that she'd flashed him a few moments ago had relaxed once she'd started making the coffee… Well more specifically, when she'd stopped looking at him. Was she upset because he'd slept in the day before rather than helping her for the rest of the day like everyone else? Seemed petty, but he really couldn't think of another reason for her to be upset with him.  
  
    "I can feel you staring at me…" she muttered, her cold expression and tone returning now, and he arched a brow as he watched her. Okay, she definitely was mad at. Though he thought she really might be mad about the fact that he didn't help more the day before, but he'd only half believed it, he knew it had to be something else… But whatever. Playing psychiatrist and digging his nose in other people's business wasn't his job though, he'd leave that for her. The last thing he wasted to do was be bothered with her issues; he had plenty of his own. She was pleasant enough, but he still was trying to keep a wall between them, her constant ramming at his defenses wouldn't change that either; that was something he'd decided the night she broke down and cried on him. That night his heart had genuinely gone out to her, he genuinely saw a bit of himself in her back then and it haunted him, he hated that and he realized that she was dangerous because now and then she pierced his defenses if he didn't keep his guard up, and Petra's constant buggering about Hange all of a sudden was a clear indicator that others took notice to his breaks in defenses. It was all annoying. He'd be damned if he let her in again.  
  
    "My bad." he sighed, taking his tea and leaving the room.  
      
     With his back turned to her as he strolled out of the room, he couldn't help but roll his eyes thinking to her behavior, allowing himself one more thought on the matter. If he cared enough, he might have been a little disappointed that the seemingly unshakable Hange who'd faced so many hardships over the last few weeks while he watched as an unwilling spectator, was upset over something as petty as him not helping her slave all day over some shitty posters. He might have been that disappointed if he cared, alas, just as he'd been telling himself from what seemed like the moment he met her in the damn pre-school when she waved off his blind anger with an unshakable sense of understanding where he was coming from and kept him from making a total ass if himself; he didn't care about her in the least.  
  
    With that thought, he headed off to the basement to check on his laundry and left her to the kitchen to do whatever the hell it was that she'd gone in there to do. He stomped down the basement stairs, all but ignoring Mike as he passed the man. They could finish the party, since Hange clearly had a chip on her shoulder today, but who gave a shit right? Certainly not him. If she was going to act like a child because she didn't get her way over something so small, then fuck it, he didn't care.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it took me so long to update, I was going to make this chapter longer, but I think I'll save all the craziness that is to come for the next chapter and use this as just a set up chapter. Thanks so much to everyone that leaves such awesome comments and keeps up with the stories, I see them all and appreciate all of them, so thanks so much!


	17. Party! (Part 2: Oops)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party carries on~

  
**Later**  
  
    "Decorations? Check. Pizzas? Check. Entertainment? Check. Cake? Check…" she hummed under her breath as she stood near the door pacing up and down the hallway. God she was nervous… She had no idea that she could be so nervous over a kid's birthday party, it seemed ridiculous. What if the party didn't go over well? What if Eren didn't like it? What if? What if? What if? She really couldn't stop fretting, and she'd been pacing down the hallway for some time now. She was sure part of her anxiety was the fact that she didn't want these people coming over to their house anyway, the parents of most of the kids were petty, and arrogant. Too many times when she'd stepped out of Levi's car with her brothers, she saw the other parents watching them and whispering amongst themselves with judging eyes, too many times she heard her name in hushed whispers as she walked past, and when she turned to face the source, they always sent her fake smiles and a wave. Normally, Hange ignored them but now she had to deal with them for at least a few hours, and she was sure most of the parents were only coming to snoop around her house… But whatever about all of that, she'd deal with it, for Eren's sake she'd deal with it… Even though she _really_ didn't want to.  
  
    "Hange." a calm voice from the stairs called her and she spun around to see Mike standing there looking as unflappable as ever, if not a little concerned.  
  
    "Hmm?" She hummed anxiously as she faced her friend that she hadn't even realized had been in the same room as her.  
  
    "You've been pacing for 45 minutes." he sighed, walking over to her and taking hold of her right hand to release it from her left hand's death grip that she hadn't even realized she'd had it in.  
  
    "Have I?" she blinked, brows pulled together as she fretted, but she quickly broke into a smile, "Haha, you'd think it's my birthday I'm so nervous." she chuckled looking up the stairway now at the sound of the kids playing in the hallway upstairs. She'd brought them breakfast upstairs so that they didn't come down the stairs and see the decorations, and then told them to get dressed for later. At the promise of ice cream they didn't ask any questions about getting dressed, but after an hour of waiting around she could tell that they were starting to get a bit restless, and that was in turn making Hange restless.  
  
    "Hange?" Mike called again as Hange realized she'd zoned out again.  
  
    "Sorry." she hummed biting her lip anxiously, "I'm just worried… What if no body comes? What if went through all of this to plan the party and then no one shows up? How would I explain to Eren?" she whispered her rushed words as if she were afraid that the kids would hear her from all the way up the stairs.  
  
    "They will come Hange, the party isn't to start for another 20 minutes." Mike whispered back in an exaggerated tone in some attempt to ease her nerves. The small laugh he was rewarded with was proof that his efforts had worked.  
  
    "You're right." she sighed heavily, "I just really want this to go well, Eren deserves a little happiness." she smiled wistfully to herself as she thought back over the last few weeks. All this time, Eren had been worried about her more than anyone all of this time and she knew that was not the place of a four year old. While everyone else might have seen this as just a kid's party, to Hange this was the beginning of a promise to herself to do everything in her power to keep Eren from worrying about her and to do her best to give him the childhood he deserved even _if_ their parents couldn't be a part of it.  
  
    A sharp _ding_ from the door made Hange jump out of her thoughts. She looked to Mike for a moment in shock and he smiled down at her.  
      
    "Well, at least your concerns can be put to rest." Mike smirked as Hange flashed a huge smile towards the door. She gulped in a huge breath of air to calm herself and looked back towards Mike who watched her calmly back.  
  
    "I'll get the door, go stay with the kids and I'll signal you to bring them down soon." she spoke quickly, and Mike nodded back not needing to be told more than once.  
  
    As Mike took off up the stairs, Hange found herself standing in front of the door with her gut in her throat and a million nerves all worked up. She took a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm herself, and reached out for the door handle.  
  
    "Come on Hange, you can do this." she slapped her cheek lightly, to kill the rest of her nerves, and plastered a big smile on her face, twisted the handle, and pulled.  
  
-  
  
    Levi heard the doorbell ring from his room and he cringed. This meant that people were here, potentially a whole bunch of people that he didn't like and had no desired to be bothered with… But he'd go to the party, he had to now. As much as he didn't want to go, he couldn't very well just let Mikasa run around without showing up himself, it would make it look like he just dropped her off there and ran; not a good look for the guy that all of the parents already seemed to think was a serial killer. He heard those stupid parents when he dropped off Mikasa in the mornings; some of the parents seemed convinced that all of his tattoos automatically meant that he was in a gang or some shit and actively avoided him, but that was nothing new, it seemed their newest gossip involving him was that Levi and Hange were secretly a couple and that Eren and Armin's parents were actually himself and Hange. The last bit of gossip was probably the most ridiculous shit he'd ever heard, and the only reason he'd never chewed them out for it was because Hange seemed to be ignoring it, but he knew she heard it too, he was sure that she didn't think he noticed, but every morning when he dropped her and her brothers off, he noticed the brief grim look that crossed her face like she was about to enter a battlefield… And then she'd put on a big smile and help the kids out of the car… She seemed to put up with a lot of shit for the sake of her brothers, so even if she was acting kind of shitty earlier today towards him, he'd already decided to ignore it and go to the damn party, since she was probably just worked up because of the party or something.  
  
    After all if Hange could ignore those jerks without losing her temper everyday, he could deal with them for a few hours for the sake of the kids too… Well he would at the very least not punch anyone out for talking shit… Probably.  
  
    From his room with the door open, he could hear Hange saying hello to the people at the door, and hear them responding with fake excited hello's as well… He could practically hear them peeking around the place trying to find the next piece of gossip to talk about in front of the preschool tomorrow, and his good mood from all of the rest he'd gotten the day before began to falter… Well until he heard Mike with the kids in the hallway.  
  
    "Who's that at the door?" Eren was asking in the hallway.  
  
    "Uh, might be a delivery man?" Mike offered, in a desperate tone that was so desperate that it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that he was lying-  
  
    "Oh okay!" Eren's cheerful voice rang through the hallway, and Levi sighed to himself. Okay, so anyone with half a brain and anyone as ridiculously gullible as Eren. A smirk actually crossed his face at Eren's insanely trusting nature; must have been nice to be able to afford being that naive.  
  
    With a sigh Levi got to his feet, he figured that Hange would probably need some help downstairs, but he didn't intend to step inside of her line of fire for the second time today, so he instead made his way out to the hallway. The view from the hallway was actually vaguely amusing. Mike was sitting on the floor of the hallway with the kids, looking impossibly big next to them as he sat uncomfortably in the narrow hallway with a jester's hat on his head from Eren and a tea cup in his hand from Mikasa. The large man looked up to him with sad eyes, like he was questioning what happened with his life and Levi had to fight the urge not to laugh at him, but he managed.  
  
    "Hange might need help with the package, it might be heavy."Levi drawled from his doorway and Mike's eyes all but lit up at the idea of escaping what looked to be the start of a very elaborate fake tea party or something.  
  
    "Right, might be heavy. I'll go help." Mike was to his feet and down the stairs in seconds. Levi chuffed a laugh as he watched Mike clamor down the stairs with the jester's hat still on his head before he turned to the kids.  
  
    "What are you three doing?" he asked, hoping to distract them from the growing sounds of people speaking in hushed tones downstairs.   
  
    "We were having a tea party, to the death!" Eren cheered with happy rosy cheeks and Levi couldn't help the grin that crossed his face.  
  
    "How exactly does that work?" he asked, settling down on the ground alongside them, not missing the way all three of their faces lit up as he sat.   
  
    "You'll play with us?" Mikasa asked hopefully and Levi gave her a short nod.  
  
    "Yeah, why not? A tea party to the death sounds… Interesting enough." 'Interesting' for a lack of better words. As soon as it was clear that Levi was staying, the kids got right on explaining to Levi how the game worked, and their enthusiasm nearly made him forget that he was only doing this to keep them distracted.  
  
    Fifteen minutes into the game and Mikasa was sitting to the side, already out of the game, (though Levi noticed that she was only 'out' because she chose not to tlet Eren lose, but he said nothing) Armin was also out, but being so young and not understanding the meaning of 'rules' just yet, he still was darting in and out of the game grabbing teacups as he pleased, and not even Eren could get frustrated with the child anymore… Mostly because all of Eren's attention was on Levi. Levi and Eren were the last two playing, and Levi had a feeling that Eren wasn't just messing around he wanted to win. It had been back and forth for awhile as Levi wondered if he should just let the kid win at his own game, but now they were the last two left in the silly kid's game and Eren was looking at him like if he lost he might try to physically injure him; it was amusing. Eren's little hand was clamped around his tea cup until his knuckles were white, his eyes bored into Levi with an insane intensity and Levi knew he was about to make a move, and decided he'd just let the kid win (something Levi _never_ did), but just as Eren moved-  
  
    "Eren!" Hange's voice called from down the stairs and Eren jumped, dropping his teacup in shock of hearing his name called.  
  
    "Y-yes?" he stammered looking sadly down at his cup; he knew the rules, drop your cup and you're automatically out.  
  
    "Can you come down here for a second? And bring Mikasa too!" Hange requested, her voice so clearly trying to not spill over with her own excitement about the party.  
  
    "…Fine" Eren sighed after a moment, looking over to Mikasa who was already on her feet, while Levi scooped up Armin in his arms to bring him down the stairs.  
  
    "Don't think this means you won, Levi!" Eren shot Levi a frown as he jabbed his little finger in Levi's direction as they all headed towards the stairs. Levi could only laugh in response which seemed to upset Eren even more, "Hange made me jump, it doesn't count!" even protested with a frown as they started down the stairs.  
  
    "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, kid, just watch where you're walking." Levi warned, deciding he'd let his victory in the kid's game go since Eren seemed so distraught by it, but Eren didn't seem to think Levi would let it go so easily, judging by the boy's rambling.  
  
    "I mean, you could have dropped your cup too," Eren started up still coming down the stairs with Levi a few steps behind him and Mikasa a few steps behind Levi, "You could have sneezed or somthin' and I woudn'ta said I won cuz of that!" he was insisting, though Levi had a feeling it wasn't true, but said nothing, "Or- or, even if it slipping from your hand I woulda gave you another try!" Eren nodded to himself.  
  
    "Really now?" Levi asked as they made their way to the bottom of the steps. He could see Hange standing at the bottom of the stairs now with an eager smile on her face as she watched her brother walking towards her, her big brown eyes practically shining with enthusiasm. Levi had to fight the urge not to chuff a laugh at how similar her and her brother were, both of them too eager and talkative for their own good. He gave the ever calm Armin in his arms a quick glance and wondered if Armin would end up being as intense as his siblings, for everyone's sake, he hoped not. He could only imagine the hell this house would turn into if Mikasa and himself left three overly intense people on their own. He was sure Hange alone would burn the house down. A strange feeling settled in his gut for the second time today, this time at the thought of the fate of this house once he pulled himself together enough financially to move out… But Eren started speaking next to him and pulled his attention back to reality.  
  
    "Yeah real-" Eren started, but right as his foot hit the bottom step-  
  
    "SURPRISE!" Eren's words were lost in the yell of the people that had hidden themselves throughout the house waiting for him to come down the stairs before they jumped out with big smiles and noisemakers.  
  
    "Surprise Eren! Happy belated birthday!" Hange cheered, scooping up her shell shocked brother and twirling him around in her arms.   
  
    "B-birthday?" Eren stammered, looking around to the smiling faces of his classmates that had jumped out and at the decorations that had been put up around the house, "Today's not my birthday…" Eren frowned a bit confused still.  
  
    "I know." Hange smiled at him placing him on the ground, "We didn't get a chance to celebrate your birthday before, so I thought why not do it now?" she asked, suddenly unsure if a surprise party was a good idea. Eren's eyes were darting around the room like he was a trapped animal, he looked unsure and almost a bit afraid for a moment, and it made her nervous… She could have kicked herself, he must have been through too many new experiences in the last few months, the last thing he needed was a big surprise party! She should have kept it small, she should have-  
  
    "Thanks Hange." Eren's face broke out in a big smile and he flung his arms around her so tightly that it almost winded her.  
  
    "You're welcome." she smiled sweetly, starting to smooth down his hair, but right as her hand touched his head, he pulled away from her as if he just remembered all of his classmates were here and he looked around at them. Most of the kids stared back, chuckling under their breaths that he'd hugged Hange, and Eren could feel his face get hot as he wondered how he could play it off. Thankfully for the little boy, Hange was on the case.  
  
    "Okay, so we have some games and music and face painting out back, and the food will be out shortly." Hange announced loud enough for everyone to hear, signaling for them to go to the backyard. At the promise of games and face painting, the kids had started running off to the backyard before Hange had even finished speaking, Eren and Mikasa included, and at their movement, the parents for the most part began moving towards the yard along with their kids, though a few of them were a bit slower to move than others, taking their time to move so that they could get a better look at the house. Hange ignored the nosey ones and instead turned her attention to Armin who was squirming in Levi's arms, eager to take off with the rest of the kids.  
  
    "I'll take him." Hange hummed, lifting Armin from Levi's arms and holding him close with a hesitant smile. to be honest, she was feeling a bit bad about how gruff she'd been with Levi this morning. He might have thought she was his dumbass landlord, and she might have been upset that it seemed to her that he was just faking being nice to her for the sake of staying here, but she real couldn't be mad at him for it. If Hange was in his situation, she would have probably done the same to make sure her brothers had a safe place to live if not more… No, she couldn't hate him, especially when she heard him playing with the kids upstairs, Eren adored Levi, and Levi was kind to her brothers at least, so long as he was good to her brothers, not much else mattered to her.  
  
    Levi handed Armin over to her carefully to make sure the squirming child didn't fall in the exchange. He caught a glimpse of the hesitant smile she was sending his way, a stark contrast to her harsh attitude this morning… He figured she must have realized that she was being ridiculous and felt bad. It wasn't like he cared either way, but he couldn't deny the comfortable feeling that came over him at her small peace offering.  
  
    "Thanks for looking after the kids this morning. I can take care of things from here on out, so you should go enjoy some time with Mikasa." she was smiling and being perfectly pleasant as she spoke, but there was a sort of formality to her tone that he wasn't used to hearing from her. For a moment he watched her, expecting her to say something more, but the look on her face made it pretty clear that she was done speaking and now was politely waiting for him to take her suggestion.  
  
    "Okay…" he replied slowly, looking at her with a twinge of confusion. She was acting like an ass earlier, and now she was being nothing more than cordial… There was clearly something going on with her that she wasn't saying, and after what he'd watched her go through all month, he was almost scared to know what could be eating away at her this time… He almost asked her what was wrong too, but before he could, she'd already turned on her heels with another polite nod towards him as she carried Armin off toward the rest of the party. It wasn't until she rounded the corner and was out of sight that he realized he shouldn't have even thought to ask her in the first place what was going on; she wasn't his problem. But even still, he felt a bit troubled by her behavior as he stood in the hallway alone, with only the sound of the kids playing and squealing outside to keep him company. With a sigh he pulled it together; she was right, he should go out to the yard and enjoy the time with Mikasa. Mikasa was the one he should put all of his attention on, Hange has Mike if she needed anyone; it really was as simple as that… Right? Turning on his heel to go out to the yard, Levi decided that it must have been.  
  
-  
  
    An hour into the party, and Hange's head was spinning. When she wasn't refilling the drinks and chips, she was helping with the activities she'd set up for the day, when she wasn't talking with parents, she was dragging little Ymir away from the clown who she kept attempting to fight for scaring Historia or she was trying to keep Connie and Sasha from trying to swim in the punch bowl- Seriously, it was like as soon as they got to the party, the kids parents had relinquished all responsibility for them! Nonetheless, whenever Hange took a chance to catch her breath, she'd look for Eren, and the bright look on his face as he played with the other kids and Armin and Mikasa's expressions who were equally beaming, was enough to make her exhaustion worth it…   
  
    "Need some help?" a voice asked from behind her while she was taking one of her precious breaks and trying to catch her breath, but the voice was so close she nearly punched the speaker from shock alone. Of course once she spun around and saw who the voice came from, she immediately calmed down, but still… "Scare you?" Mike was asking looking pleased with himself.  
  
    "A bit." she smirked, punching him lightly in the arm. He'd been helping her through most of the party too, but he was slowed down quite a bit by kids at the party frequently stopping him and asking the giant of a man for piggy back rides.  
      
    "Well, you were looking tired, so I was just coming to let you know that help has arrived." Mike smiled, directing Hange's attention to Nanaba who was waving at her as she entered the yard with a big smile, and right behind Nanaba was Petra and Oulo, both waving at Hange as well (though Oulo looked like he was waving out of fear, but whatever.)  
  
    "Why are they here?" Hange asked, her voice filled with nothing but relief as she watched the three new guests get right to work on refilling drinks and filling chip bowls where Hange had been slipping.  
  
    "Well, I asked Nanaba if there was any chance at getting some assistance with the party today, and then the next thing I was hearing was Petra squealing that she wanted to help and that she'd bring Oluo too." One look at Oluo's annoyed expression made it pretty clear that he'd rather be spending his day off elsewhere, and Mike and Hange could only imagine what Petra had said to get him to come here, but Hange was thankful either way.  
  
    "I'll have to thank them later." Hange smiled, before looking around to make sure none of the other parents heard what she said next, "Seriously Mike, socializing with these parents is killing me, I have nothing in common with them, and I'm supposed to try and talk with them?" she grumbled with a small frown, "I'm dying here!"   
  
    Mike snorted a laugh at his friend's distress, "You got along fine with Levi and you guys hardly have anything in common but the kids, I'm sure you'll figure it out." Mike offered what he hoped was helpful advice, but all she gave him in return was a frown.  
  
    "Levi… Right…" she muttered aloud without really thinking as her eyes landed back on Petra who was making a beeline for Levi to say hello, with Oluo a few short steps behind her. For a moment Hange watched the three of them speaking, and got a sense of how much Oluo and Petra liked Levi just from seeing how they practically hung on his every word and movement… It would be hard on Oluo when he found out that Petra and Levi had a thing going on behind his back…   
  
    "What's wrong, did something happen with Levi?" Mike asked suddenly on full alert. Mike was fine with Levi staying there since the guy seemed to care for Hange to some extent, and only seemed interested in his sister's survival, but if he messed with Hange enough to make her upset, Mike wouldn't stand by and say nothing.  
  
    "No, it's nothing it's just-" She started, but was cut off by one of the parents cutting into the conversation and totally bum rushing her.  
  
    "What a lovely party! Really, I'm so glad you invited us here." One of the parents that Hange now recognized as Jean's mother rushed up to Hange, clean ignoring Mike's presence as she began to talk. Mike rolled his eyes and walked away seeing that the woman had no intention of leaving, and he had no intention of talking with her. He knew Hange cared enough about what the other parents thought to carry out polite conversation with them, but he, however, had no such hangups.  
  
    "I-I'm glad you came." Hange replied, flashing Mike a small apologetic smile… She was kind of grateful for the interruption though, she really didn't want to have to admit what she'd heard Levi say, nor did she want to express her discomfort about Levi and Petra having a weird relationship, potentially in the house… It was too close to gossiping for her comfort, she'd just deal with it when the time came to do so, in the meantime, she'd collect his rent money and probably start looking for someone else to rent the room to, since he really was only promised the room for 3 months and if she decided it wasn't going to work, than what choice would he have but to go? She'd be fair about it, give him an extra few weeks to find a place and then him and all of his hangups would be gone… Shame about Mikasa having to leave though-  
  
    The laughter of the woman next to her that breezed past her alerted her to the fact that Jean's mother had been speaking and that she'd been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't been listening. Politely, Hange let out a laugh to try and hide the fact that she had no idea what the hell the woman was talking about a moment before.  
  
    "So-" the woman started up again, putting her drink to her lips daintily, "Are your parents going to be attending? I haven't' seen them for sometime." If the question hadn't caught her so off guard, Hange might have picked up on the digging tone in the woman's voice, but she didn't. The sudden question made her feel like she was in a vacuum. Her lips parted a few times, a fake smile plastered on them that turned to a harsh frown a few times as her brain struggled to provide her mouth with an answer that didn't involve a loud sob.  
      
    "M-my parents?" Hange managed tensely after a long awkward moment of the woman staring expectantly at her… Hange's throat tightened as she tried her best to produce a real answer, but her chest was feeling tight, her mind was flashing the nasty images of when she went to I.D her parent's twisted bodies… No- she wouldn't cry now- she couldn't! This was Eren's day and she wouldn't ruin it with an emotional outburst, but she would have to calm down, but how-? Now memories of Levi popped into her mind, the slow patient way he'd pat her back that night and held her close like he actually gave a shit about her… But the memory could hardly help now that she knew he truly didn't… And that thought only served to upset her more, much more than she'd thought it had. Ugh, she had to squash this feeling… Jean's mother was looking at her strangely now and she didn't need another reason for the parents to talk about her in their homes and in turn give the kids another reason to mess with Eren as she knew some of them did, though he'd never admit it… No, she had to pull it together, taking in a strangled breath, and ignoring the way her eyes stung, Hange began to answer, but as sound passed her lips it came out only as a pained croak.  
  
    "Excuse us." an irritated voice was mumbling behind her before sweeping her off to the side, leaving the woman to stand alone like a gaping fish near the punch bowl.  
  
    "W-what are you doing?" Hange protested as she was dragged to the side of the house, out of sight of the rest f the party goers. She looked back to whoever it was that pulled her away only to find herself looking down at a source of her turmoil, much to her disappointment.  
  
    "Do you make a habit of putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, or does it just happen?" Levi asked dryly, genuinely curious, though his tone did nothing to convey that.   
  
    "What are you talking about?" Hange asked, taking a large step back from him as she wiped her hand past her eyes. She hated that this was the second time he'd see her like this especially when she was so unsure what to do with him lately.  
  
    "I heard that lady poking around earlier talking all kinds of shit about how she heard your parents died and how she thought-" Levi trailed off, deciding Hange didn't need to know that the woman suggested that Hange was hard up for money now that her parents were gone and doing anything for it; The woman said it with false sympathy to the other parents, but Levi knew she just wanted to start trouble. He never liked Jean's mom to start with; after all how nice could she be when she made Jean; the little shit who made his sister mad enough to kick him in the face? "Anyway, she already knew about your parents, she was just trying to start shit, forget about her." Levi frowned. After hearing the woman gossiping about Hange and her family, the moment he saw the strained look on Hange's face while she was standing next to that bitch, Levi knew right away that she'd said something about her parents, and the last thing he was trying to do today was bandage anymore hands and deal with anymore tears soaked in his shirt… Though the speed in which he was next to her was defiantly going to raise some questions with Petra who he'd been speaking with up to that point… Great.  
  
    "Hah, well I guess I have a lot of people to forget about then." Hange muttered glumly despite herself.  
  
    "What?" Levi asked, quirking a brow. Who was she forgetting? Did Mike fuck up again?  
  
    "Nothing." Hange groaned, pushing past him and going back towards the party with a heavy sigh, "I have to go get the cake, thanks." he heard her say tiredly over her shoulder… He watched her go a bit confused. She was doing it again. She was being perfectly cordial, but not at all her usual self. Was she just stressed out because of the party… Or… Was she avoiding him? He almost laughed at the thought. Hange wasn't the avoiding type, she didn't strike him as that tactical… But she also didn't strike him as the kind of woman who would try to be a stripper in order to feed her brothers and _then_ try and fight Kenny Ackerman for her money, and yet-  
  
    He waved off the odd feeling that passed over him at the idea of Hange being upset with him for an unknown reason and instead blamed it on her being keyed up thanks to the party and pushed it from his mind with some effort. She'd said she was going to get the cake, so that meant all that was left was cutting the cake, giving presents, maybe a few more games and then everyone getting the hell out and the weird way Hange was acting would stop and things would go back to the way he was getting used to them being; light conversation here and there, helping out with each other's kids as needed, but otherwise a respect of space that came from not quite being friends: space that Levi very much valued. Yes, he just had to make it through the party, and so long as he stuck to only keeping an eye on Mikasa from here on out, and keeping his evil eye on the rest of the parents to keep them from talking to him, he was sure it would be fine.  
  
-  
  
    "Don't tell me I forgot to buy candles!" Hange huffed as she threw things from the kitchen cabinets in her mad dash to find some birthday candles, or _at least anything_ that could resemble birthday candles.  
  
    "Okay, you didn't forget to buy candles." A cheerful voice called from behind her and Hange spun around, hope clear on her face as she saw Nanaba behind her shaking a box of Birthday candles with a wide grin.  
  
    "I could kiss you Nanaba!" Hange cheered pulling her friend into a hug before pulling the cake from one of the cabinets she'd put it in earlier for it to thaw out and starting to put in the candles.  
  
    "No thanks," Nanaba laughed, moving to watch Hange carefully place the candles on the cake, "You can save your kisses for lover boy." the words were tossed with a playful edge that made Hange snort a laugh despite her confusion.  
  
    "Lover boy? And who might that be?" Hange asked, still focused on her task.  
  
    "Oh you _knowwww_!" Nanaba drawled out excitedly, "You don't have to hide it, it's fine, I totally get it… Well not really, but Im happy for you." Nanaba cheered with genuine joy in her voice, and now Hange was more than a little confused.  
  
    "Wait, happy for me why?" Hange turned to face Nanaba with total bewilderment on her face, which caused Nanaba to mimic her confusion.  
  
    "Aren't you and Levi- you know." Nanaba nudged Hange with a suggestive wink before Hange felt her turn in horror of the implication.  
  
    "What made you think that?!" Hange was demanding a bit too loud for what was supposed to be a secret mission of getting the cake before Eren saw it.  
  
    "I'm sorry!" Nanaba stammered, "I just totally missed the mark didn't I?" Nanaba sighed and shrugged, "I just thought… That time we came over and he went up to check on you, you guys were up there awhile, and then you defended him the other day, and I mean you two have been living together a few weeks and you guys give off this, I don't know… _vibe_." the statement was paired with an intentionally intense gaze that made Hange laugh.  
  
    "A vibe?" She chortled.  
  
    "Yeah, and I saw you two sneak off to the side of the house a moment ago." Nanaba wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, succeeding in making Hange laugh harder.  
  
    "We were talking about something having to do with the party." Hange admitted. It wasn't a total lie, they were talking about the party kind of.   
  
    "Really?" Nanaba asked, blonde hair falling to the side thanks to an inquisitive head tilt.  
  
    "Yup, nothing between us of the sort." Hange nodded, totally missing Nanaba's disappointed 'oh', but the scientist in Hange left her with burning questions and wondering about what Nanaba meant by 'a vibe' between herself and Levi, so she asked, much to her friend's shock.  
  
    "Well, I guess you guys just seem to get along so well, like you really get each other." Nanaba shrugged at the question, "It's hard to describe; maybe it's like watching an old married couple?" Nanaba suggested with a chuckle, that in turn made Hange snort yet another laugh at the insane accusation. Sure she wanted to be his friend, but a married couple? That was probably the last thing she wanted and she would bet her life on the fact that it was probably the last thing Levi wanted with her.  
  
    "Don't let Petra hear that." Hange joked without thinking, only realizing her misstep when she saw her friend's face twist in confusion.  
  
    "What do you mean? Why would Petra be upset?" Nanaba asked looking throughly confused.  
  
    "No reason." Hange shrugged trying to play it off, "Hey, can you help me look for the lighter? The kids won't like waiting too long for cake and ice cream."  
  
    Nanaba didn't answer for a moment, giving Hange a long questioning stare before she finally answered with; 'Sure'. The suspicion in Nanaba's gaze was enough to know that Nanaba had caught onto Hange's implications in her previous statement and Hange had a gut feeling that Nanaba wasn't going to drop it just yet.  
  
    Oops. Well it wasn't like that would come back and bite her in the ass later right?... Right?  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last part of this party is the part I've been excited to write heheh.


	18. Not so Happy Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So much happens in this chapter and I'm awful at summaries.

  
  
    Petra was sitting alone under the shade of a tree, a safe distance from the shrieking kids at the party, and with a good view of Levi. Now it wasn't that she didn't love Oluo, she did, very much in fact, they lived together, he was sort of her best friend in a way and she'd never want to hurt him, but all the same- Her gaze wandered to Levi who was frowning near the punch bowl, staring off in space; Levi was her first love.  
  
    Since high school, Petra had adored Levi, admired him even, he was the leader of their little group, he kept them together in his weird way and she'd always wished to be at his side. Petra knew it wouldn't happen back then though, she knew that he had to focus on Mikasa back then, so she'd decided to give him some space, ride it out until he seems to be in a better place and open to a relationship… She wasn't sure how or when she ended up with Oluo during that time she was giving Levi space, but she did, and it was probably the best decision she'd ever made, she didn't regret it at all. It was hard for her to swallow at first, but she wasn't sure that she ever could have been the kind of person to make Levi happy, nor was she sure that she could be happy with someone with a past as shrouded in loss and darkness as Levi's was. As his friend she felt a bit out of the loop when it came to him, so she could only _imagine_ how lonely she'd have felt as his girlfriend.  
  
    A frown crossed Petra's rose painted lips as she followed Levi's gaze realize that he wasn't staring into space, but was watching Hange. He did that a lot lately… Watch Hange. Petra was sure he didn't realize that he was doing it, but in the last few days that she'd been at this house helping with the party, she'd seen the little smirks that played on his lips while he watched Hange and Mikasa play together, she saw the way his eyes followed Hange as she fumbled through the home and more than anything, she saw how well they complemented each other.  
  
    Sure Petra might have been bothering Levi about liking Hange, but she figured he just liked her as a person, not in a _romantic_ way… But it looked like Levi at least was running down that path without so much as noticing the signs. Even though she'd moved on and was committed to Oluo, the lovable dork he was, she would never forget that Levi was her first love, and she wished to see him as happy with someone as she was with Oluo… She was sure it would take time since both Hange and Levi had difficult situations right now, but maybe, just maybe, there was something between them that was deeper than the friendship that it seemed that Hange was pursing.  
  
 **\-----**  
 **Meanwhile**  
  
    Her singing was awful and she was teetering with the fucking cake, but Eren didn't seem to care as his friends surrounded him singing 'Happy birthday' as loud as their 4 and 5 year old lungs would allow.   
  
    The guests were happy, the kids happy, his own friends were having a surprisingly good time at the party and Levi was sitting off in the corner by himself, with his arms crossed. He didn't get it.  
  
    He kept finding himself staring at Hange all day which was already irritating because that's not what he wanted to be doing, but how could he not when she was sorta giving him the cold shoulder? The whole day he'd watched her be her usual, eccentric self with everyone else at the party but him. His biggest concern was that she was changing her mind on letting them stay longer all of a sudden. If she did that he wasn't sure what he was going to do, since somewhere along the way he'd conveniently forgotten to look for another place to live in case this place didn't work out…  
  
    Ugh… He needed some space from all of this.   
  
    He trusted that his friends would keep an eye out for Mikasa, so with a sigh, Levi turned and headed for the front yard to take a second to pull it together. Passing a few other party guests that had also come to the front yard to get away for a second, Levi sat down on the creaky front stairs and took a moment to look out over the neighborhood.  
  
     It was still difficult for him to accept that he was living here. This quiet neighborhood where kids could play in the streets safely, where he didn't watch his back when he came home at night, where he could see Mikasa happy… This whole place seemed to good for him, and if Hange really was changing her mind about letting him stay, then it probably was all too good for him.  
  
    Sighing, Levi raked his hands back through his hair. He had a sinking feeling that things were changing and he wasn't too sure whether it was good or bad.  
  
    "Enjoying the party, mate?" a voice came from beside Levi, causing him to turn and see the father of one of the kids next to him smoking a cigarette. It took everything in him not to roll his eyes. Levi knew the man had been standing there for some time. This man had been standing at the edge of the party the same as Levi had been most of the fay, often standing next to Levi as if he had something to say, but couldn't gather the guts to do it… Judging by the anxious toothy grin the man was sending Levi's way, it seemed the man had obtained his guts.  
  
    "Hmm." was Levi's noncommittal answer.  
  
    "I get it. Gotta take a second to get away from the kids am I right?" he let out a chuckle and Levi turned now to study this guy. Button up shirt, manicured hands, a fat wallet swelling in his right pocket, a bad combover and a thin anxious, pink, sweaty face… So the guy wasn't a physical threat or anything, but he clearly wanted something that he was unsure about saying and Levi wasn't about to beat around the bush with this weirdo.  
  
    Before Levi could ask what the guy wanted though, the man was speaking again.  
  
    "She's kinda cute, the lady hosting this party. My wife was telling me that her parents died, shame… Must be hard on a young lady like her to maintain this big house by herself." the guy went on, mopping his brow with a paper towel, "I bet she'd appreciate someone to- uh _help_ her out." the guy wiggled an eyebrow suggestively and Levi visibly cringed. So the dude was a creep.  
  
    Undeterred by Levi's obvious disgust the man kept talking, "Oh, come on, don't make that face, I saw you watching her all day too, don't act like you're all high and mighty now." The guy chuffed, before his voice dropped down to a whisper, "Don't tell anyone, but a few months back I saw this girl at this strip club on the other side of town, don't tell the Misses, haha, but check it out! She looks just like the chick hosting this party!" The man pulled out his phone and flipped through some photos of what was definitely Hange on the one and only night she'd been at Kenny's club to dance and Levi's blood ran cold. Her face was more pale and dead looking in the video than he'd remembered, she'd looked like someone was dying in front of her… Hell, she might have felt like she was dying.  
  
    "I saw you with her that time at the zoo, you guys are friends right? Think you can introduce me to her? I'm sure I'd be able to help her out financially in exchange for her _'Services'_. The stupid man went on talking, elbowing Levi playfully, not knowing that he'd just been doing the equivalent of poking a lion with a short stick.  
  
    "If she was desperate enough to get up on stage and dance the way she was dancing, I can only imagine what she'd do for more than the change those guys were offering her and it'll help her out too." He flashed Levi a yellow toothed grin and something in Levi snapped.  
  
    Now Levi probably should have told the guy to delete the photos and fuck off before he called the police for stalking or some shit like that… That was probably what a normal person would have done… But Levi wasn't normal was he?  
  
    Forgetting all of his earlier concerns, Levi was on his feet and snatching the man's phone before throwing it to the ground and stomping on it before he even thought about what he was doing.  
  
    "What the hell are you doing!?" The man was yelling now, looking frantically down at what used to be his phone, scattered in the grass.  
  
    "Listen to me you piece of shit-" Levi hissed, grabbing the man by the collar and pulling him down to eye level, "You want a fucking booty call? Find someone else, but don't try and pick on people you think you can talk into your weird shit just because they're down on their luck, you sad sack of-"   
  
    "Levi!" A voice yelled out to him and shocked him enough to coax him out of his rage. He turned to see Petra standing not in the doorway behind them with wide eyes, "What are you doing?" She demanded.  
  
    Levi narrowed his eyes at the man who was looking absolutely terrified now before shoving him away.   
  
    "Nothing." Levi gave the man a pointed look and the man clearly got the message, but Levi's hand couldn't quite unclench from the fist he'd subconsciously made.  
  
    "I-I should go." The man stammered getting to his feet and rushing off for the backyard while Petra approached Levi carefully.   
  
    "What happened?" She asked looking him worriedly up and down. She hadn't seen him this pissed since they were in high school and that was a long time ago.  
  
    "Nothing." Levi snarled again, his narrowed eyes following the retreating man, his fists clenching and unclenching as he moved restlessly from foot to foot. He was clearly itching for a fight. Petra wasn't sure what the man said to get Levi this riled up, but she did know that she needed to get him away from the situation since he looked about ready to follow this guy and cause a scene.  
  
    "Hey, let's go inside alright? You need to relax." she suggested, placing her drink aside and linking her arm around his. He let her lead him, knowing that if she didn't he might go chase down that asshole and break more than just that dick's phone.  
  
    He wasn't really paying attention as Petra led him through the house and, leading him to his room and guiding him to sit down on the bed, figuring a place that was spick and span would be the only place he would calm down.  
  
    "I'll get you some water." She offered, while he merely grunted in reply as she walked off.  
  
    Levi sat restlessly on his bed, fists still clenching and unclenching. He tried to take deep breaths and calm himself, but he couldn't, the idea that this guy thought he could just waltz in during a _children's_ party and talk the down-on-her-luck host of the party into sleeping with his grimy married ass for money disgusted him. Men like that were how his mother ended up the way she was; strung out on drugs and fucking lost. People like that who used others who they saw as being down on their luck were people he utterly resented.  
  
    He wasn't sure why he was so upset to start a fight though. Hange wasn't really his friend and she damn sure wasn't family, but he supposed he gave half a shit about her family staying together if he was pressed for an answer. Hange and her brothers were just good, simple people. There weren't many good, simple people in the world, they were like an endangered species and endangered species were mean to be protected, that would explain his immediate reaction he reasoned as Petra returned with a glass of water.  
  
    She watched him worriedly, he insisted that he was fine, but she insisted on staying and asking what happened. After a few minutes under Petra's worried gaze, Levi sighed and began to give her the replay.  
  
 **\-----**  
 **Meanwhile**  
 **\---**  
  
    "You need to watch who you hang around! I don't need ex-cons roughing me up at a _children's_ birthday party!" A clearly distraught man was yelling at Hange now in front of the other guests, his wife, who'd insulted Hange early standing behind him looking as pissed as the man did. Hange, however, had no idea what was going on. A minute ago, she was laughing with Eren, Armin and Mikasa while everyone was happily eating cake and ice cream and now this man had stormed over to her and started screaming in her face about being roughed up by an ex-con?  
  
    "Ex-con?" Hange replied slowly, unsure of what else to say.  
  
    "Don't sit there looking clueless," she man groaned irritatedly, "You know who I'm taking about, that menace _that_ is that girl's guardian!" The man pointed right at Mikasa. Mikasa looked up with mild concern in her eyes, clearly unsure what was going on.  
  
    "Whoa, whoa, leave her out of this." Hange was on her feet and stepping between Mikasa and the man's pointing finger in a matter of seconds. Mikasa might not have been her responsibility according to Levi, but Hange had spent a lot of time with Mikasa over the last few months and had grown to care for the girl, so the last thing she was about to allow was this buttwipe bothering her.  
  
    "Or what?" The man asked shoving Hange's shoulder with a scowl that made it clear that he thought she was some weak willed push over.   
  
    Hange raised a brow. She wanted to deck this guy, she was sure she could knock him out in one go actually, but the kids were here and fighting in front of them was not an option. Eren didn't seem to share the same sentiment, however.  
  
    "Leave Hange alone!" Eren was yelling, jumping up on the table, his little hands curled into fists.  
  
    "What're you gonna do? Fight my dad? My dad could beat you and your lame sister!" The Jean kid was yelling at Eren now, earning a heated glare from Eren, who was clearly ready for a fight, but Mikasa got to Jean first, pushing him down and punching him across the face.  
  
    "Don't talk about Eren and his family!" She huffed, punching Jean square in the nose… And then everything went to hell.  
  
    The man yelled that Levi was teaching his kid to be a menace too, and pushed Hange again saying that she should be careful who she invited to these things, but this time he'd pushed her hard enough to send her stumbling back into the collapsable table and sending the cake flying to the ground, barely missing Armin as it landed. Mike, Moblit and Nanaba now all stood defensively around Hange ready to pummel this man on a moments notice, damn the presence of children, while Armin cried from the shock of almost getting caked. Eld and Gunther tried to break up the kids, while Oluo was trying to calm down the other parents, but with no success.  
  
    "Oluo!" Eld called over his shoulder as he attempted to haul Mikasa off of Jean "You need to get Levi! I can't get Mikasa offa this kid!" Eld was yelling. Seeing Mikasa's blind, vicious swinging at the kid's face was enough to send Oluo into action without another question.  
  
    Oluo ran into the house and flew up the stairs to where he knew Levi's room was, throwing open the door to deliver the message that Eld sent him with, but he quickly lost his train of thought when the door opened.  
  
    "Levi, Mikasa is down there fig…hting?" Oluo blinked when his brain fully processed the scene before him. Petra and Levi were sat close on Levi's bed, her hand resting on his bicep and her leaning in with a look on her face the Oluo had thought to be only for him… Boy was he wrong, "What's going on in here?" Oluo asked crossing his arms, trying to burry the hurt in his voice.  
  
    "What happened to Mikasa?" Levi was already on his feet, not bothering with Oluo's other question as he rushed for the door, leaving Oluo and Petra alone, face to face, and one of the faces looking less than pleased.  
  
    "What were you two doing up here Petra?" Oluo was asking, suspicion leaking into his tone.  
  
    "We were, just talking." Petra shrugged. She wasn't going to tell him that they were talking about Hange, Oluo was a lot of things, and a blabber mouth was definitely one of those things. As much as Petra loved him, she knew his habit of blurting things out all too well, and Petra was still trying to sort out what Levi had revealed to her.  
  
    He'd admitted that the guy had dirt on Hange, had some pictures from the night she worked at Kenny's bar and seemed ready to use them against her, but when she pressed him on why he'd gotten so very upset over the whole thing, he couldn't find an answer, he seemed confused by his own actions. Trying to convince him to dig a little deeper, Petra rested her hand on his arm, ready to help him face the music, when Oluo'd burst in.  
      
    "Talking , my ass!" Oluo was yelling when he saw how distracted Petra was acting, "Are you still chasing after Levi? I thought we were past this!" He frowned, looking hurt.  
  
    "'Chasing after Levi'?" now it was Petra's turn to look hurt, "I thought we were past this too! I thought we were past you accusing me of having feelings for him still! We were just talking!" She insisted.  
  
    "Whatever." Oluo scowled, turning away from her before his heart could break anymore. To Oluo, it seemed that no matter what he did and now matter how hard he tried he could never compare to Levi in Petra's eyes. Not back then… And apparently, not now.   
  
    "Oluo can you just-"   
  
    "I'm gonna leave, Nanaba will be able to give you a ride back, right?" Oluo asked with a wavering voice as if he would cry, while he turned to leave without waiting for an answer.  
  
    Petra stood frozen in place watching him go,unsure what to say as she listened to his heavy footsteps go down the stairs, heard the front door open and swing shut and then the too familiar sound of Oluo's old pickup truck hiccuping to life before peeling off down the street… She was torn between being upset with him or just being outright hurt by his reaction.  
  
 **Meanwhile-**  
  
    Levi was flying down the stairs to get the the backyard, and burst out of the door so quickly that the metal back door bounced loudly off of the wall as he stepped into the yard. He saw parents quickly exiting the party with their children in tow, he saw Armin crying next to a smashed cake, he saw Mikasa struggling in Eld's arms to get to some kid that was crying on the ground, swaddled in his mother's arms and the last thing he saw was Hange on the ground looking around like she was lost, and the same shitty guy from before, struggling to get to her from where Mike was holding him back.  
  
    "Eren, where are you?!" He heard Hange calling out over the confusion as she got to her feet, still looking around hurriedly trying to spot her brother through the confusion happening around them. With all of the people trying to exit the party and all of the noise, it was hard for her to spot or hear him, but she'd be damned if she stopped trying.  
  
    "He's not here?" Mike took a moment to ask, a long enough moment for the man he'd been holding back to slip out of his grasp and make his way to Hange.  
  
    "Don't ignore me!" The man demanded, grabbing her arm and pulling her so close that they were chest to chest. Hange's face contorted into a harsh scowl, her still healing hands curled into fists at her sides, but when the man leaned in and said something to her that was too quiet for anyone save for Hange to hear, he watched her face go pale as she stumbled back looking crestfallen.  
  
    Levi knew _exactly_ what the man had said to make her go from almost knocking him out to looking lost in a matter of seconds. The same thing he'd been telling Levi about earlier… About her at the strip club and for the first time ever, he saw a desperate look cross her face as triumph crossed the man's face as they both realized that he had something over her… And Levi honestly wasn't sure how it had happened, he didn't even remember walking through the crowd of leaving people, he didn't remember his fist curling up, he didn't remember grabbing the guy by the collar, for the second time that day, he didn't even realize what he was doing, not until he'd heard a loud crunch and pulled his knuckles back red as the guy fell to the ground, totally unconscious.  
  
    Everything went quiet as everyone realized what happened, the only sound to be heard through the yard was Levi's ragged breathing as he stood over the guy's unconscious form… He wanted to hit the guy again, a couple more times actually, he wasn't so sure why he was as angry as he was, but it didn't change anything. Levi wanted to seriously hurt the guy and from the looks he saw on his friends' faces as they stared at him in shock, he knew that they knew that he wasn't ready to be done with this guy, not yet. His friends looked as shocked as the rest of the crowd looked horrified, he avoided looking at Hange though, he wasn't sure why, but he couldn't quite get himself to do it in that moment, all he could really think about was grabbing this guy by the collar and finishing the job.  
  
    "This is out of hand, I'm calling the police!" a voice called out, and Levi, for once, was glad to hear that the cops were coming because the promise of them arriving would be the one thing keeping him from murdering this guy.  
  
 **-An hour later-**  
  
    "I'm sure he didn't mean to break his nose, he was just helping me out." Hange heard herself saying for the thousandth time that evening.  
  
    It had taken Hange 20 minutes to find Eren who had ran off crying when his party took a turn for the worst, blaming himself for everyone being unhappy. Everyone seemed to think that Hange had run off too, when she went off wordlessly to find her brother, but now everyone was back together… And stuck dealing with a police report thanks to Levi punching Jean's dad in the face (seriously no wonder the kid was kind of obnoxious, compared to his parents, he was a saint!).  
  
    "Well, the man's nose was broken in 2 places, are you sure it was just 'helping you out'?" The tall, blonde haired cop was asking with a quirked brow as he took extensive notes.   
  
    "I'm positive!" Hange exclaimed before sighing, "He works in a factory at nights as far as I know, it probably made him too strong for his own good. He most likely didn't realize how hard he'd even hit the guy until after! Besides, the man pushed me and harassed me out of nowhere, as I'm sure the witnesses have told you, so then the next thing I knew the guy rushed me and Levi knocked him out, didn't I already say all of this?" she asked exasperatedly. It was now late into the night, most of the guests had spoken with the police and left, and now it was Hange's turn to finish up, but honestly she just wanted to put her brothers to bed, take an aspirin and dive into the much simpler world of deep sea research.  
  
    "I know, I know." The cop sighed empathetically, leaning back on the kitchen stool he'd been sat next to Hange on as he flipped through his notes, "It's just that, this Levi guy has a pretty colorful record with the law, I just want to make sure that your boyfriend won't put your children at risk Miss Hange." the cop frowned and Hange's own frown eased a bit… The guy was just trying to do his job, the other officers already looked ready to go, this guy was the only one who seemed to take his job seriously, she respected that at the very least.  
  
    "Okay, one-" Hange started with a sigh, "he's not my boyfriend, he's just renting out a room from me and two, the boys are my brothers, not my children."  
  
    "Oh?" the cop seemed taken aback for a moment, blue eyes widening a fraction of an inch, "Should I speak to your parents as well then, as they own the property?"  
  
    "They passed away a few months ago… I own the property now." Hange explained, shoulders slumping a bit… It was getting easier to say out loud now, that they'd died, but it still hurt just as deeply if she dwelled on it too long.  
  
    "I'm sorry." the cop hung his head and avoided his gaze a moment, "You've been raising them by yourself?" Hange noticed that his notebook was placed aside now, it seemed that he was genuinely curious about her situation.  
  
    "Yeah…" Hange sighed again, "It's not easy, but it's not impossible, so don't look at me with that pitiful glance." she accused, and the cop straightened his back out and cleared his throat.  
  
    "My apologies ma'am." He jumped, suddenly so very formal and uptight, that it made her laugh. It was a tired, heavy laugh, but it was the first real laugh she'd had that evening, so she'd take what she could get.  
  
    "It's fine, I'm used to it." She smiled tiredly.  
  
    "Still…" The cop paused looking worried, "You're here by yourself and your tenant has a bad past; he's been caught with drugs, he's been arrested for fighting multiple times, he'd been-"  
  
    "Stop!" Hange held up her hand to silence him… She didn't want to hear this from this guy, she didn't want to know this about Levi. That was why she didn't ask about criminal records when she let him stay. Hange wasn't stupid at all, people might not have understood why she did things, but everything she did had a reason.  
  
    "Don't you want to know about the risk your taking by letting this man stay here?" The officer was asking, leaning in now looking very worried for her for a reason that Hange couldn't understand.  
  
    "No. When I let Levi stay, I did it because like me he was down on his luck and putting his family first. As long as he has Mikasa to care for, I trust he won't slip up. As long as Levi doesn't slip up, I trust him to stay, besides, he's not a bad guy really." She sighed. Despite him calling her his annoying ass landlord, she still didn't think he was a bad guy… Just a guy who didn't like her too much and made bad choices by sleeping with his friend's girlfriend, that's all.  
  
    "If you say so." The cop murmured, looking at her a moment longer before straitening out, "Well, my partner is waiting for me outside, I think we have a pretty clear picture of what happened today, Miss Hange."  
  
    "Just Hange is fine." She waved off the formalities as she got to her feet.  
  
    "Ah, okay… Hange, please wish your younger brother a happy birthday on my behalf." He nodded, with a tight smile as he extended his hand for an unexpected handshake.  
  
    "Will do." Hange smiled. She kinda liked this guy, he seemed like a good person, she'd like to have met him on terms other than breaking up a fight at her 5 year old brother's party. Who knows? They might have been friends.  
  
    "Good." The officer was beaming back, tired blue eyes looking a little brighter, "And if you need anything else," He hurriedly ripped a sheet of paper from the notebook he'd been writing in and scribbled on the page before handing it to Hange, "In case you need help but don't want to officially deal with the police again." he offered.  
      
    Hange eyed him cautiously as she looked at the page, her initial respect for him faltering.  
  
    "What?" The officer asked, as he stood under her harsh suddenly glare.  
  
    "I'm sure by now you know what that man was trying to hold over my head right?" Hange accused. She knew the officer knew, if the man hadn't blabbed, Levi probably let it slip by now that the man threatened to spread the backups of the pictures he took of her if she didn't 'cooperate' with him for Levi breaking his phone.  
  
    "Well that's neither here nor-" the officer started.  
  
    "You know that he was going to tell the world that I was a _stripper_ for a night to feed my brothers." She said it anyway, ignoring the mild shock on the officer's face, she had no shame when it came to feeding her brothers, "I don't need people holding anything else over my head, I've been through enough." She grumbled, crossing her arms.  
  
    "Yes, I know." the officer nodded with a thoughtful look, "Any person strong enough to lower their pride for the greater good has my respect, but it doesn't hurt to have others on your side. All I'm saying is, if something comes up and you need help, feel free to call me. You seem like a good person, and helping good people is the highlight of my day, so helping you out would really be doing _me_ a favor." he explained as they walked for the door. Hange relaxed as she heard his reply.  
  
    "You're a workaholic aren't you?" Hange asked with a chuckle, opening the door for him as he let out a light laugh next to her.  
  
    "A bit." he replied, "So will you help me out?" he asked, turning around to hold the sheet of paper for her again. Hange studied him again for a moment. Clean blonde parted hair, a weird little bolo tie over his uniform, honest blue eyes… There was something whimsical about him that made him almost impossible to distrust.  
  
    "Eh, why not?" Hange shrugged, taking the page as he smiled before stepping out of the doorway and into the night.  
      
    "Goodnight Miss Zoe, I'll see you around." He called over his shoulder as he jogged back to his police cruiser.  
  
    "Goodnight officer-" she paused realizing she never got his name, before looking down to the page and finding the answer there, "Erwin Smith." she muttered to herself as the door the police cruiser was slammed shut before it took off.  
  
    Closing the door behind her, Hange sighed heavily. She was tired, dirtier than usual and sure that she was going to have a busy day tomorrow. At the very least she was glad that Nanaba, who'd stayed the night long with Mike, and Petra, was sound asleep in the guest room rather than accusing Hange of flirting with that officer, because to be honest, Hange wasn't super sure what was the weird vibe that had gone on towards the end of her talk with the officer, and with a wide yawn as she headed for the stairs, she decided that at least for tonight, she didn't care, but she stopped with one foot on the step as she noticed light from the kitchen pouring into the dining room… She supped she should at least hit the lights before she went to sleep to cut down on the electric bill.  
  
    With tired steps, Hange headed for the kitchen, expecting to just flip off the light and go to bed, but instead finding herself jumping out of her skin as she entered the kitchen as saw a petite man with a bandana wrapped around his face and a broom in hand, standing right around the corner by the light switch.  
  
    "Shit!" She hissed jumping back, her heart pounding in her chest as the man jumped back and slipped the bandana from his face, reveling himself to be none other than Levi… Of course, who else would be sweeping in her kitchen?  
  
    "Fuck, sorry I didn't mean to scare you." he put the broom aside, looking at her with an anxious edge in his eyes that was unfamiliar to her.  
  
    "It's not-" she started, "You didn't scare me really, but… What are you doing sweeping at almost 4 in the morning, you've had a long day too, aren't you tired?" She found herself asking. Hange was sure he was tired, after calming down Mikasa, Levi had spent much of the evening with the cops. Some of the parents had the guts to side with Jean's father and say Levi started the fight, which caused Levi to spend much of the afternoon in undeserved handcuffs… The interrogated him for a long time with those handcuffs on, even now Hange could see the red irritated skin from where the metal rubbed him the wrong way.  
  
    "I am tired," he combed a hand back through his hair, his baggy eyes looking decidedly away from her, "but I needed something to keep my mind off of the fact that I'm sure that you're now aware of my past run-ins with the law." he kept shifting on his feet, like he was awfully anxious, and it was hard for Hange to resist the urge to grab him by the shoulders and hold him in place so that he stopped looking so damn worried, but she resisted.  
  
    "I do know." she nodded, "But so what? I mean first of all, you punched the guy after he pushed me to the ground so thanks for than and secondly, it's not like I'll kick you out because of something you did as a teenager. I'm sure you were different then, I know I'm different from back then." she shrugged, but he stared at her in disbelief.  
  
    "That's not-" he stared, looking very confused.  
  
    "-the answer you expected? she finished for him with a knowing grin, "I know, I can tell from your face that it wasn't." she smirked, "The thing is people change, but neither of our situations have." She sighed, her grin fading now, "I still have Eren and Armin to feed and I need your rent money to do it, and you still have Mikasa to look raise and you need my home to keep her sheltered, that hasn't changed." she stated, watching as he stopped shifting around.  
  
    "Okay…" he narrowed his eyes in confusion, "But something has changed?" he ventured to ask, and Hange nodded. Something had changed indeed over these last few weeks. Hange respected Levi, she thought he was a tough, no minced words, you see what you get, surprisingly loyal kinda guy, and she would have loved to be his friend, but after what he heard him tell Petra behind her back, once Hange realized that Levi might have had a deeper relationship with Petra than Hange thought, she was no longer sure that she could get too close to him when her brothers were her priority, and she didn't want Levi's drama to tear her home apart, so-  
  
    "Since you moved in you've been asking for me to stop trying to be your friend, so I'll respect your wish." Hange nodded solemnly, "No more giving me and the boys rides to school, or me rides to work, if I babysit you can pay me, and for your meals that you cook I will take an increased amount of money off of your rent. This will be strictly business and my family will no longer be a burden on yours." she sighed.  
  
    For a moment, she thought Levi's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but there was no other indication that he thought anything of the news at all as he replied with a simple "Okay." before Hange said her goodnights and took off down the hall and for the stairs.   
  
    Levi stayed behind in the kitchen, thinking over everything she'd just said, with his broom now forgotten in his hand. She wasn't going to be in his face anymore, this would be a strictly business relationship between her family and his, just like he'd been asking for up to this point! Levi was finally getting what he wanted!… So then why did he feel so disappointed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo. I forgot I was writing this? I'll try and write it to the end, but I am super busy these days. Also sorry to come back with all of this drama, I just needed to intro Erwin, because I wanted to, but I really wanted him to be a cop, so then I had to figure why the cops would show up... And also I wanted Levi to punch someone in the face for Hange's honor (That she was honestly about to defend herself tbh, but Levi keeps stealing all her moments to kick ass). Just because.


	19. Fresh Start?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Petra is the hero Levi and Hange deserve.

  
    Petra sat at the kitchen island the next morning, with a cup of hot coffee between her hands, and puffy eyes looking down into the dark swilling liquid in her mug… She had a rough night. Nanaba had stayed up most of the night trying to comfort Petra after her fight with Oluo, and it only got worse as Oluo hand't picked up a single one of her many (many) calls. Now here Petra sat in the early hours of morning before the sun was even up with her phone next to her in case he called, high hopes that he would even bother to do so.  
  
    She wasn't quite sure what to do… Sure they'd fought before, even broke up a few times, but they always got back together, he'd never blatantly ignored her like this, he'd never stormed out on her like this, and all because what? He thought she still liked Levi? She didn't, not for years and she was hurt that he didn't know that better by now. A shuddered sigh was the most she'd allow herself by way of frustration now unless she wanted to start crying all over again.  
  
    All the same, even in her misery, Petra could count her blessings… Going back to the apartment with Nanaba and Oluo would be too awkward, so Nanaba called in a favor with Hange and managed to convince Hange to let her stay a little while until things cool down with Oluo at home. Looking around the cozy, neat kitchen, Petra smiled bitterly to herself. It as ironic that she was allowed to stay in this nice home out of the kindness of the heart of the woman that a few months ago, Petra was telling Levi was no good to have around. It was unfair of her to have judged Petra as harshly as she did, and why was she even so harsh on her before, because Hange was a stripper for a night? The idea of judging Hange for that now was laughable! After seeing all of the handwork Hange put into the kids party yesterday, all of the care she put into everything she did, and the kindness that Hange had extended to those around her, Petra was ashamed of having ever doubted Hange, and wished that she could do something for her as well.  
  
    "What are you spacing out about?" A gruff voice was asking, causing Petra to jump up and spill her now cold coffee over the counter.  
  
    "Geez, Levi! You scared the hell out of me." She pouted, jumping away from the spilling coffee that was now spilling over the sides of the grey marble countertops.  
  
    "Well, who told you to stay over here just to space out and waste coffee?" Levi retorted as he rushed over with paper towels to clean the mess, in true Levi fashion.  
  
    "Hange did, as a matter of fact." Petra puffed up her chest a bit as Levi reached across her to wipe up her mess. Levi gave her a non committal grunt and an eye roll as he wiped down the counter, clearly unaware of how close they were at that moment. From their small distance, Petra could see how his hair clumped together, still wet from the shower, she could smell the spicy bite of his shampoo, feel the warmth coming from his skin… A thought crossed her mind that caused her to let out a bitter laugh.  
  
    "You know, a few years ago, I would have killed to be in this situation." She sighed, leaning forward and casually plucking a clumped strand of Levi's hair from its spot hanging in front of his face, earning her a scowl, "I hate to break it to you Levi, but you just don't do it for me anymore." She joked bitterly.  
      
    "I'm hurt." he replied dryly, backing away from her and leaning back on the counter to study his friend, "You know, maybe if you weren't so damn touchy, you wouldn't be in this situation to begin with." He pointed out, but regretted it when a sad look crossed her face.  
  
    "I thought he would know that I mean nothing by it, how could I love you when I have him?" Petra asked looking hurt, "Geez, is it such a crime to have liked you once? Does that mean I have to be judged for it the rest of my life? I mean even Hange seemed to think you and I had something going on!" Petra exclaimed, in exasperation.  
  
    "What?" Levi asked, interest piqued, "What makes you think Hange thought that. As far as he knew, he'd never done anything with Petra to make Hange of all people think that… If he had, was that maybe the reason she'd been acting strangely since Petra had been around? And if the thing bothering Hange was that he was in a relationship with Petra, than what did that mean? A little thrill went down his spin at the thought, one that confused him, and one that he'd deny if ever questioned on.  
  
    "I don't know, apparently she overheard the two of us talking about something and got the wrong idea, that's what Nanaba told me anyway. Since Hange was letting me stay, she just wanted to sort things out to make sure I wasn't going to bring any trouble to the house. I get it." Petra shrugged, thinking nothing of her answer, until she saw the thoughtful look on Levi's face…   
  
    "What did she hear us say that would think that?" He asked more to himself than Petra as he turned to the fridge to start making breakfast.  
  
    "I don't know…" Petra asked carefully, "What's it matter, it's not like you wanted to be her friend or anything, you've been pretty clear on that."  
  
    "Tch." Levi scowled, giving nothing more by way of response. Whether he wanted to be her friend now or not didn't matter, she'd made it clear that they were no longer going to be interacting in the same way as before, but he somehow doubted she would stick to that, "I wonder what they'll want for breakfast?" Levi muttered to himself, trying to take his mind off of pointless stuff and think instead on the stuff that mattered at the moment, which right now was breakfast.  
  
    "Oh, Hange left already, she said she was having Mike take her brothers to daycare today because she had some errands to run really early this morning, so you only have to wordy about making breakfast for everyone else, myself included of course." She grinned cheekily.  
  
    "Right." Levi replied distractedly as he started pulling eggs and vegetables from the fridge to start cooking, while Petra went on chatting, no doubt to distract herself from her own problems, but Levi was having a hard time tuning into the conversation.  
  
    First she was treating him oddly after apparently overhearing something he said to Petra, then her party went all wrong thanks to him, then she was making a distance between herself and his family, and now she was leaving earlier in the morning than she ever had before… No matter which way Levi looked at it, the way Hange was acting had definitely been his fault… He scoffed under his breath, too low for Petra to hear as he chopped some veggies. As much preaching Levi had given her about keeping her distance from his family, it seemed like he'd brought her family more grief, while she'd only brought Mikasa and perhaps even himself, comfort. Only now was Levi starting to get that Hange genuinely might have needed someone to lean on a bit, someone that she didn't feel she had to be strong for like with her friends, someone that was a stranger enough where there were no expectations for her to be strong, but good enough of a person to listen… That's what he;d wished for the most back when he was 'Humanity's Strongest', back when he was the leader of his friends in high school, back when he was scared or alone, and now came along someone who he could do that for and he flat out turned her away… Geez… Sometimes, he had to admit, he was a bit of an ass…  
  
    "-And that party yesterday was a mess! Poor Eren… Right?" Petra was saying by the time Levi tuned back in to the conversation, "Levi?" She was asking as she realized he'd spaced out.  
  
    "Petra?" Levi called over his shoulder, "You think you could help me with something? It might take awhile, and don't give me any weird commentary on it either, but it's for Eren."  
  
    Petra blinked, a bit confused, but then shrugged, "Sure, anything to keep myself busy with something that isn't checking my phone every three seconds." She hummed.  
  
    "Good."  
  


* * *

  
  
    "What do you mean you no longer need my services!?" Hange was all but screaming she clenched her hands on the sides of the plush seat she was sat on.  
  
    "I mean, your work has been very helpful, we appreciate your work as an intern, but we currently have no full time positions or part time positions for you here and we don't have room to keep you as a paid intern when we have new interns coming in. Surely you'll be busy with school am I right? I looked you up, before your brief absence from school, you were doing very well, you have a bright future, we hope this internship will help further your education." Her supervisor smiled a kindly smile, that made Hange's heart sink.  
  
    "You don't understand, I can't afford to go back right now, and taking the break off made me lose my scholarships." Hange swallowed, "I really need the extra money to take care of my family too, I'm the only one they can depend on and-"  
  
    "Please-" her supervisor frowned now, holding up a single hand, "I know your situation, that's why I was so pleased to be able to help you, that's why I tried my best to get you a position here, but it didn't work out… I'm sorry."  
  
    Hange stared at the supervisor dumbly, the words 'I'm sorry' dancing in her mind over and over… She didn't remember standing, or leaving, or crossing the street to get to the bus stop… She didn't really register much until a car was blaring it's horn at her, the driver yelling curse words at her. It slowly registered to her that she'd almost gotten hit by a car, and it took her a moment more to realize that with things going so wrong around her at all times, she almost didn't care.  
  
    With an offhanded sorry, Hange took a deep breath ducked into a pharmacy nearby… She needed something for the headache that was settling in… And a job application. She asked for both at the counter, but was told only to apply online, so she settled for buying the pain killers instead. It was only when she dug her hand into her jacket pocket for cash to fork over to the person lucky enough to have a job on the other side of the counter that she found it.   
  
    Popping back a few of the pills dry, Hange studied the paper with a flat glance, it was 10 digits and a name written neatly in print reading ;Erwin Smith…  
  
    "Oh." Hange hummed dryly to herself, she'd almost forgotten the officer from last night, the one who offered to help her if things went wrong and she needed someone to talk to about things she didn't feel comfortable coming to the police about. Technically, she did need someone to talk to, and it was over an issue she didn't want to go to the police about… it certainly wasn't something she wanted to go to her friends with either… She didn't feel right being a burden on them.  
  
    Without another thought, Hange whipped out her phone, punched in the number and held the phone to her ear… It was after the third time the phone rang, Hange shook herself from the darkness that seemed to enveloped her since hearing she lost her job.   
  
    "What am I doing?" She sighed, "I don't even know this-" she almost pulled her phone away and hung up, but then-  
  
    "Hello?" A deep gruff voice that sounded like it was coming from someone that just woke up answered and Hange jumped out of her skin, and out of her slump.  
  
    "H-hi! I um… I didn't really mean to call you I'm sorry if I woke you, you should go back to sleep, forget I bothered you-" She started.  
  
    "No wait, who is this?"   
  
    "You remember that pre-schooler party you broke up that fight at last night? Well as it turns out, when you give distressed nut cases your number, they might just call you…" She sighed, but was surprised to hear a laugh at the other end.  
  
    "It's fine, I hope you're not calling to break up another preschool party fight this time, because I'd hate to inform you that I am off duty for the day if that were the case."  
  
    "Ahh, alas, I am not calling for that today, I've locked away the boxing gloves." she found herself joking as she slowly made her way to the bus stop again now, her headache subsiding as Erwin laughed again.  
  
    "Then how may I help you today Hange?"  
  
    "Well, I almost got hit by a car, so you know, just stirring up trouble for you."  
  
    "Are you alright?" he asked sounding surprisingly alarmed.  
  
    "I'm fine… Just-" She sighed, "Do you guys have any openings at the police station? I think I'd make a great police dog, my friend Mike has a great sense of smell and taught me everything I know, and now that I just lost my job, I was thinking why not try something new?" she laughed sadly and the other side went quite for a moment.  
  
    "Where are you right now?" He asked, sounding a bit alarmed.. She wasn't sure what possessed her to tell a stranger her location, but she did… He told her to wait there… And she did… She felt a bit stupid doing it, for all she knew, he could have been a cop in the day and a psycho killer in his free time, but she figured nothing else could go wrong anyway… Worst come to worst at least she'd be out of her misery.  
  
    He showed up twenty minutes later in a nice car, with a kind smile as he pulled up to the bus stop and rolled down his window.  
  
    "Get in!" He called, grinning from where he sat.  
  
    Yet again Hange had a moment of being unsure, this was probably the last chance she'd have to walk away in case this guy was a murderer… She still stood up though, onl after a brief hesitation and she grabbed the car handle, yanking the door open while someone behind her gasped that she was a very lucky lady in a very suggestive manner… Hange wasn't sure how she was lucky though. She turned to look at Erwin who was now smiling at her and asking something, something that she gave a despondent nod to before closing her eyes, because right now the world and trying to sort it all out just felt like too much work.  
  


* * *

  
  
    "They fired you?" Erwin was exclaiming around a mouthful of waffles.  
  
    "I know! That was my reaction too!" Hange was exclaiming right back, stabbing her fork down in the french toast before her.  
  
    Alright, so a moment ago she was feeling pretty depressed, but now that she was eating something, she was sure a good amount of that was thanks to the fact that she hadn't eaten anything yet for the day. Now that Erwin had brought her to a diner and insisted he buy her breakfast, Hange was starting to feel a bit better about things.  
  
    "I mean I worked so hard hoping they'd offer me a full time job and as soon as my internship is up, they kick me out! How's that fair? Now I have to look for another job and fast, and the job market is not kind…" She sighed, leaning her cheek on her propped up hand dejectedly. She couldn't seem to catch a break no matter how she looked at it. It seemed like life just didm;t want to hand her anything good...  
  
    "A friend of mine owns a pet shop, he's a bit of a character, but he's getting older and could use more help than what I can occasionally provide… That is if you're interested." Erwin offered.  
  
    "Of course I'm interested!" Hange jumped so high she hit her knee on the booth table earning a laugh from Erwin. Okay, so maybe she spoke a bit too soon about life not handing her anything good, a potential job so soon was a miracle!  
  
    "Alright, I'll let him know about you and get you the information later." He smirked, taking another bite of his breakfast while Hange smiled, but then her smile fell.  
  
    "Why are you being nice to me? You're not going to murder me are you?" she asked with narrowed eyes, causing Erwin to choke on his last bite of food.  
  
    "Murder you?" He asked after taking a huge gulp of water, "Why would I do that?" his blue eyes were wide in shock and confusion.  
  
    "Well, I mean considering the way things have been going for me, I wouldn't be surprised." She sighed heavily, slumping down in her seat a bit, "It's been a rough few months."  
  
    "Have you taken the time to process everything happening around you? My therapist says-" He stopped there as Hange studied him.  
  
    "Therapist?" she repeated back. He seemed so nice and normal, why would he need a therapist?  
  
    "Well…. You're not the only one who has had some hard times…" He tried to joke as he looked down at his meal with a heavy expression, one that Hange found on her own face every morning when she was alone and  looked in the mirror and there was no one there that she felt she had to be strong for… In her own space, Hange was hurting… And somehow Erwin looked like he had been too somehow.  
  
    "I understand." She nodded, "Say no more."   
  
    "Thanks." He smirked, clearly glad that she wasn't going to pry, "I'll just say that after you've been through somethings, it makes watching other people who are trying their best suffer, well it just gets too hard to watch without doing anything."  
  
    Hange nodded to herself. If she ever made it through this rough patch in her life, she was sure she'd want to help anyone else going through this situation the most she could.  
  
    "I guess that's how I ended up letting in Levi and Mikasa actually." She muttered to herself, and at Erwin's questioning glance she explained, "He uh, helped me out one night and then he needed somewhere to stay and I needed some extra money so I just let him stay in exchange for rent momney. It worked out well." She smirked to herself, "Armin and Eren adore him, he's a clean freak so I don't have to do any house work, and he's not a bad guy you know? A little mess up…" She mused thinking back to what he'd said about her to Petra, "But not a bad guy." She shrugged, "I guess I lucked out a little bit."  
  
    "And here you said he wasn't your boyfriend." Erwin smirked into the mug he had lifted to his lips and Hange blinked dumbly at him, not understanding what he meant, "It sounds awfully domestic is all I'm saying." Erwin explained, earning a laugh from Hange.  
  
    "Oh no, he's made it very clear that his focus is Mikasa, and my own is Eren and Armin anyway. I don't have time for stuff like that, I mean I don't even officially have a job right now, how could I worry about men?" She snorted.  
  
    "I see." Erwin smirked again, "But you'd have someone to lean on when you needed them."  
  
    "Yes and if they needed me, I'd have nothing to offer. Trying to date doesn't make any sense right now." She sighed, "Besides I haven't dated anyone in years, and I've never been good at it, I can't possibly see how now would be a good time to start."  
  
    "Right." Erwin agreed with a thoughtful nod, "That does make sense." he smirked.  
  
    "Exactly!" She exclaimed, dragging the last piece of her french toast through some maple syrup before popping it into her mouth, while Erwin only sipped at his coffee, "At the risk of sounding like a glutton," Hange started, staring at the remaining waffles on his plate that he'd seemingly lost interest in, "Are you gonna finish that?" she asked with a watering mouth.  
  
    "Go ahead." Erwin chuckled, pushing his plate towards her, which she eagerly received. Erwin studied her for a moment as she munched on what a moment ago was his breakfast, with a grin on her face… When she called him this morning, he almost regretted giving her his number, worried that he misread her and that she might have been a creep or something, but now it was clear that she had her doubts about him too, but greater than her doubts, she just needed someone to talk to… And honestly, he enjoyed talking with her this morning.  
  
    The smirk on Erwin's face grew a little wider as he waved the waiter over for the check, one that he had to insist on paying when Hange saw it coming. Erwin had known Hange for… Geez, less than 24 hours maybe? But between himself and the messy haired, two children having, sweatsuit wearing, smudged glasses sporting woman before him, he felt the start of a promising friendship.  
  


* * *

  
    "Thanks for the ride Erwin… And the job offer, and the breakfast… Haha, I'm kind of sounding like a mooch aren't I?" She scrunched her nose in embarrassment as she undid her seatbelt.   
  
    After everything else he did, he was kind enough to give her a ride home. She didn't mind giving him her address since he already knew where she lived anyway, no point in trying to act standoffish now.  
  
    "Don't worry about it, you can treat me to breakfast in return once you get the job." Erwin chuckled in reply.  
  
    "Seriously though… Thanks." She said, pouring all of her sincerity into the word, because she'd really meant it, he'd been a huge help. Sometimes, someone listening objectively made all of the difference.  
  
    "That's what I'm here for, if you ever need anything, feel free to call again. Today was actually fun." he nodded in reply. Hell, had she not called him out, he probably would have been sitting at home right now, sitting on his couch, staring blankly the wall and trying not to reply bad memories in his mind… Trying not to remember the last tie he'd seen his father's face when those men broke into their family home looking for him, trying not to picture his father's face in the faces of the victims he saw on the job… Unknowingly, Hange had helped him as much as he seemed to have helped her.  
  
    "Yeah, you too, though I don't know what I could possibly do to help, I'll always try." She laughed, throwing open the door and stepping out of the car, "I'll see you around!" she promised with a huge grin.  
      
    "You will." Erwin grinned back, his eyes darting to a spot behind Hange for a moment, before he grinned a little wider and pulled off.  
  
    "Who was that?" She heard a familiar voice behind her, and spun around to see Levi standing a few steps behind her, his car kets in hand and a suspicious look on his face.  
  
    "Hmm?" She asked, "Oh, just someone I met recently." She shrugged heading back towards the house to change the god awful shoes she'd worn today when she went to work thinking she might be accepting a full time job today. Her sneakers that she'd left near the doorway where no doubt more comfortable than her mother's pinchy pumps.  
  
    Levi looked at the keys and his hand and then back at Hange's retreating back… That was all she was going to say? That he was 'just someone she met recently?' When was she ever short on words?  
  
    "It's almost time for daycare to let out!" Levi was calling back to her despite himself, "You need a ride to the daycare?"  
  
    "I can manage." She called back over her shoulder, still walking to the house.  
      
    "It's on the way, I don't min-"  
  
    "We already said we weren't going to interfere with each other." Hange replied turning, with an unusually clipped tone and an unaffected look that knocked any argument that Levi might have had right out of him.  
  
    "Alright." he replied with a nod before turning and getting into his car.  
  
    Hange cringed as she watched him get it. She didn't mean to be so short with him (pun intended), but she wasn't quite sure what was going on with him to be honest. First he was talking about her in a bad way to Petra and wanting space between their families, then he was getting in a fight to help her out and trying to give her a ride to get her brothers! What was it that he wanted really? There were too many other things going on for Hange to be bothered to figure it out…  
  
    With a sigh, Hange pushed open the front door and stepped inside to briefly get a drink before heading right back out to wait for the bus to get her brothers…  
  
  


* * *

  
**A few hours later**

* * *

  
  
    Nanaba was out for snacks, Mike had gone with Nanaba, and now Petra was left behind to make sure that Hange didn't come home early and ruin Levi's hastily put together, yet nonetheless thoughtful plans for the evening. Manicured fingers tapped at the kitchen island where Petra yet again found herself sitting, with her phone next to her. It was strange how she didn't think of Oluo all day until the moment she was left alone, and now all she could think about was what he might be doing at this moment and wondering if perhaps he was thinking of her.  
  
    "Ugh." She sighed tossing her head back. Watching Levi plan this thing for Hange, though he insisted a million times that it was for the kids, wasn't helping. Levi had gone through the trouble of spending the day putting up decorations in the living room to make it look like a charming little movie theater, baking a cake and cooking Eren and Hange's favorite foods to make up for the mess that was Eren's birthday party.  
  
    Petra could see it on his face all day that since the other day, Levi had been distracted, his linger gaze over Hange had changed from curiosity to concern, and from what Petra had seen, Hange was pulling back from Levi, respecting his wishes, and Levi didn't like it! Levi could say that this was for Eren all he wanted, but Petra watched the extra care he'd put on the pot pie that he'd informed her Hange would wolf down in seconds flat and how it was 'disgusting', but a smile tugged at the corner of his lips even as he popped the pie into the oven… Pera had literally never seen Levi put so much effort into doing something for someone else unless it was for Mikasa… And dammit, if her love life was going to be in shambles, than the least she could do was help the too blooming idiots look at the truth that there was something between them that they were either too busy, too stubborn or too stupid to notice!  
  
    With a huff of determination Petra got to her feet and darted up the stairs. If Petra was going to get this to work, she needed to get inside the minds of her targets, and while she already had a pretty good idea of where Levi stood, Hange, was a bit of a wild card to her, and there was only one way to remedy that!  
  


* * *

  
  
    "Yikes." Petra cringed at the odor that wafted into the hallway the moment she cracked the door open. Okay, she'd heard Levi gripe that Hange was messy, but Petra was seriously terrified to even set foot in the room from the small whiff she'd caught from cracking the door open alone… But she was in too deep now, after all, once you decide to poke around in someones stuff, you're a little too deep to back out because of a little (or lot of) odor.  
  
    "Alright Petra, you've got this, you've got this." She assured herself, before shoving the door open and stumbling inside. The moment she entered the room, the nearly tripped over a stack of books, and then got her foot trapped in a pile of laundry before falling over and skidding to a stop right near Hange's dresser which sent a pile of small notebooks tumbling to the ground.  
  
    "Crap!" Petra hissed, hurrying to untangle her foot, her eyes darting to the books she'd knocked over as she did so, but something caught her attention in those books right before her foot was freed; she saw her name. Gently, Petra picked up one of the soft leather booklets, with it's colorful bookmarks marking off some of the pages and she opened it.  
  
    "Crap." Petra repeated, but this time in a small voice as she started to read through the book in shock. It was probably the biggest regret of Petra's life to open that book; it was Hange's diary. The first few pages were filled with Hange's excitement of starting a new college and being able to pursue her dreams, and then it went into mostly extensive notes on her major that went right over Petra's head. There was a long gap of time that passed between entries for awhile though, no doubt thanks to Hange's school life, but when she finally had written again the only words messily written on the page were; 'Mom and Dad are gone.', in a strange way, the words being alone on that page looked as lonely as Hange must have felt… The dried tear marks that decorated the page didn't help, after that her diary became a dark place of confusion and hurt that Petra thought she could have imagined until she was being faced with it here.  
  
     It was painful and personal and Petra felt bad for reading it, but couldn't seem to put it down either. The panic she felt when she realized she had no one to turn to, the terror she felt when she knew she was the only one who would be able to keep her family together, the humiliation she'd felt dancing at Kenny's club, it was all written out there in messy handwriting on the page, Hange's despair becoming more and more evident. There was a point where it sounded like if not for her brothers, Hange might not have had the will to hang in there after her parents passed and left her directionless, but then, she met Levi. The chapters with Levi started with obvious distrust in him, even a bit of dislike for him, but there was a respect she seemed to have for him thanks to Mikasa. it seemed around the time Hange had let everyone in for dinner that night theta she broke down, was when her suspicion for Levi was erased and replaced with pure curiosity. She spoke of  what they spoke about that day, what activities she wanted to do with the kids, how kind she thought Levi was for being nice to her brothers. One particular page from about a week ago, spoke of how thoughtful Levi turned out to be, how she was glad that she let him stay despite her better judgement and how she would be sad if after the 3 months passed, he decided to leave, though she didn't specify why she'd be sad, but it proved that she cared about him to some extent, good news in Petra's book! And then things took another turn…   
  
    'He told Petra I was just his dumbass landlord, I'd thought his supportiveness as of late was genuine and that we were becoming friends, but I guess it was all an act to stay here. I would have liked it better if he just told me to my face what he thought of me, does he think I'm so fragile that I can't handle the truth, or do I mean so little in his eyes that I don't deserve it? Either way, i guess it's best to mind my own business and make space… I suppose he was only supposed to be a tenant anyway, not some part of the family like everyone's been acting like lately… I hope Eren doesn't mind the change…"  
  
    Petra read the last part aloud and was left sitting on the floor of Hange's messy room with her jaw hanging open. So Hange had overheard them talking? That's why she was acting weird with Levi? If Levi knew this-  
  
  
    "Petra?" A  familiar voice was calling from the hall and Petra froze where she sat. Levi was always telling her that she was too pushy, that she got too involved in other people's business, so if he found her here sitting in Hange's room going through her stuff then- Shit… Too late. The door pushed open the rest of the way from where Petra had left it cracked, and revealed a frowning, cross armed Levi.  
  
    "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He demanded, storming into the room and yanking her to her feet, "You can't just go through people's shit like this, did you fucking lose your-"  
  
    "I know why she's mad at you!" Petra blurted, watching as the rage on Levi's face softened for a fraction of a second. They both knew who she meant.  
  
    "Tch, who said she's mad at me?" Levi retorted as he tossed the books Petra had dropped onto Hange's dresser.  
  
    "You didn't have to say it, you've had me prepping for this party all day! You can insist this is for Eren all you want, but you need to admit to yourself that at least a little bit of this is about Hange!" Petra was insisting, trying to meet Levi's eyes, but he turned and moved to leave the room instead.  
  
    "That's stupid, why would I care what she thinks?" He scoffed as he headed for the door, but Petra wasn't having it, she'd watched her friend suffer through stuff that he never shared all by himself, she'd watched him raise Mikasa alone, she'd watched him defend everyone around him alone, and now that he wanted someone by his side, and found someone that he liked, she wan't going to let him deny it to himself and lose what might be his only shot at meeting someone as sincere and kind as Hange had been with him!   
      
    "Because you like her!" Petra yelled, launching after him and spinning him around to face her from where they now stood in the hallway, "You like her and you're just being too chicken to admit it! Mikasa likes her too and that freaks you out, because if something goes wrong, then what? So you'd rather ignore it wouldn't you? You'd rather lie to yourself and act like you don't want anything to do with her, but in the end you're a shitty actor aren't you? I saw that look in your eyes the other day, when that guy messed with her, you weren't trying to just scare him off, you were out for blood." Petra accused, watching the dark look that settled over Levi's expression.  
  
    "Petra-"  
  
    "Oh don't 'Petra' me!" Petra snapped in a hushed yell, now that she was started, she couldn't seem to stop, "You like her and you're being too big of a _punk_ to face your feelings-"  
  
    "She's dating someone already, what good would facing some shit like 'feelings' do?" Levi snarled back, watching a dumbfounded expression wash over Petra's face.  
  
    "She is?" Petra asked, recoiling a bit after his comeback to her speech.  
  
    "Yeah, she's with Mike right? Though it seems like shit between them is-" Petra's snort of a laugh caught him off guard, "What?" he scowled.  
  
    "You thought Hange and Mike were dating? No way, they're old friends apparently!" Petra doubled over in her laughter, enjoying the rare look of genuine confusion on her friend's face, "Trust me, I don't think Mike and Nanaba would be flirting so much lately if Mike was dating Hange, seriously Levi, you need to catch up on the gossip around here!" She chortled as Levi blinked slowly.  
  
    "So… They're not… Dating?" Levi asked slowly. It was a weird feeling, he wasn't sure why he felt a strange sort of relief upon realizing that, like some knot in his stomach had loosened up… But he wasn't so sure he liked it either… He wasn't so sure he liked the idea that Petra might be right, that his feelings for Hange had always been of interest and that he'd never wanted to be her friend because some weird part of him, deep down, was a bit curious about something more.  
  
    "No, silly." Petra smiled gently, "I get it, you've been through a lot and taking a leap like opening up to her might be a lot, but you trust and depend on her so much already with Mikasa. The way you guys interact is crazy in sync, you're different, but you complement each other well!" Petra assured him, "Just- just if you're not going to take a chance, be sure that you'd be okay with seeing her with another man, because someone like that, can't stay single forever, she's just too unique." Petra grinned gently at her friend who was looking a little lost now.  
  
    "I… See."  
  


* * *

  
  
**A few hours later**

* * *

  
  
    Hange wasn't sure how she'd let herself get roped into this… She'd already told Levi that she didn't want to have things the way they were before, yet here she sat in the dimmed lighting of the living room, with Levi on the opposite end of the couch, the three kids between them, Petra sitting cross legged on the floor and a bowl of popcorn in her lap. It must have been Petra's asking her so nicely to let Levi make up for his fighting, but more likely it was the sweet allure of the pie he'd baked and the food he'd cooked for dinner… After a long day of dragging her brothers around on the bus, she was pretty hungry… Had Levi been giving her rides for so long that she'd forgotten how much of a pain the bus was? He'd definitely spoiled her, and she was a bit ashamed that she'd let him when he'd been so adamant about having his space… But then again he's offered her a ride today, so what was that about?  
  
    A part of her wanted to know why he was making such an effort all of a sudden, but a bigger part of her warned her not to read too much into it and instead focus on the fact that he was doing this for the kids, the kids were beaming from ear to ear and that was enough for her.  
  
    "Wassa movie about Levi?" Eren was nudging Levi from where he sat right up under his arm, which surprisingly enough to Hange, Levi didn't protest today.  
  
    "I think it's about a robot that got lost and is trying to find his way home." Levi replied evenly.  
  
    "Wo-bots!" Armin cheered, while the rest of the kids turned to face the screen excitedly, not wanting to miss a moment of the action, now that they knew robots were involved.  
  
    The movie started, while the kids watched eagerly, and Hange studied Levi for a moment… He was being nice lately, and she didn't get why, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't like it. It was strange, but it felt like she was with family again to have everyone together like this, it was a warm feeling in the house that had been missing since her parents passed all those months ago, and Hange knew how dangerous it was to want things to remain like that. Levi made the home warm again with Mikasa and his admittedly odd ways when Hange wasn't so sure she'd ever feel that way again, but from what she'd heard him say the other night, she was sure the feeling was not returned from him… Petra clearing up that she wasn't dating him made things a little less complicated now that she was going to be staying a few nights, but there was still the fact that he called her his dumb ass landlord… No, she still knew that despite how nice things were now, it would be selfish of her to lean on him; so she wouldn't.  
  
    

* * *

  
  
    So trying not to read into things too much with Levi worked a little too well, as part way through the movie, Hange unknowingly fell asleep, right along with Armin, Eren and Mikasa, who all had huddled up on the couch against herself and Levi in the most heartbreakingly adorable scene Petra had ever seen.  
  
    "Oh my gosh, this is so cute!" Petra gasped as she turned to get popcorn and instead saw the scene behind her.  
  
    "Cute?" Levi scoffed, "Who do you think is going to have to carry them all upstairs? If it was you that had to do it, you wouldn't find this 'cute'" Levi grumbled.  
  
    "You'll carry Hange up too?" Petra asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes, which was promptly shut down by a tired look from Levi and a prompt 'No'.  
  
    "Well, I'll carry up Mikasa, and you can get Eren and Armin, they know you better." Petra shrugged and Levi agreed.  
      
    It took a lot of work to peel the kids from Hange without waking them, but Petra and Levi managed, and right after, Petra retired to her room for the night, claiming that carrying kids was harder than it looked and she wasn't sure how Levi did it all these years. Levi on the other hand, couldn't quite fall asleep so soon… Without really thinking about it, he grabbed clean blanket from his room and carried it down the to the living room, where Hange was still curled up and soundly sleeping. Levi meant what he said when he told Petra he wouldn't carry her, but that didn't mean she had to die by vein frozen to death by the air conditioner, he reasoned.  
  
     With careful steps, Levi entered the living room and shut off the nearly finished movie, before opening up the sheet he'd brought with him, but he froze with the blanket for a moment… Here she was, the woman Petra seemed to think Levi had a thing for, but now thanks to Petra's pestering, Levi suddenly wasn't so sure that he didn't. he studied the sleeping woman before him with more thoughtfulness than he had ever before… Her hair was a mess as usual, her clothes had bits of food that she'd dropped on herself from their awkwardly quiet dinner earlier, she was kinda drooling and she slept like the dead…. But he knew she slept so heavily because she was tired from working her ass off for her brothers, from trying to stay tough in front of her friends and family, from managing to stay sane despite how crazy her life had suddenly become, he'd always respected that about her… But the feeling in his stomach now as he watched her snoring away, the feeling of protectiveness that rose up as he watched her, was certainly not respect, and certainly not curiosity… But caring.  
  
    The sheets slipped from his hands a bit as it hit him… He cared about Hange. Hange, despite her weird ass ways had somehow managed to worm her way past his defenses some time ago… That's why he was pissed when that guy messed with her, why the ride to school this morning felt strange without her and her brothers, why he took the wrong road on his way home automatically driving the way he usually went to drive her to work, why he felt like this place was more of a home than anywhere he'd ever lived before, and that was a dangerous feeling in his book.  
  
    Slowly, brown eyes fluttered tiredly open and his heart flopped in his chest from where he stood over her.  
  
    "Levi?" She asked groggily, seemingly struggling to take in the situation.  
  
    "You looked cold." he shrugged, trying to look more calm than he felt as he draped the blanket over her and took off to leave her in confusion while he retreated to his room before he said something stupid to her; something like the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm back again. Busy as usual, trying as always.


End file.
